All Heil The Worm
by Kuro Shiro Kami Chan
Summary: A new disease is on the rise infecting human and nation alike. But the effects of this disease are unknown and it's spreading quickly. What does it do to every victim it claims? And why do they all utter 'all heil the worm? (this fanfic contains characters on the brink or death, some gore, sadness and disease potentially crippling our favorite characters. Are you ready?)
1. Chapter 1

**This is a new fanfic for Hetalia and probably the only one I will allow my friends in real life to read/know about!**

**The inspiration for this story is strange and to explain I must once again mention my beloved friends England and Hero. While hanging out at Barnes and Noble, England showed me a game he and Hero were playing. It was a game where you make a disease. I said I was good at those kinds of games and asked them if i could play. Since they know I'm such a big Hetalia fan, they poked fun at my infecting each country on the map. I started the game in Africa (i just picked at random...) and it quickly spread to many of the countries in the game, even infecting the countries i like and write for here the most... What inspired me to write this was the fact that I had several theories about the countries, including how they getting sick/physically injured represents real life events (which we'll talk about another time). So I then i thought to myself 'so if all the humans in their nations got infected by the illness i created in the game, how would they get sick?'. What really put the idea in my brain was England saying "Imagine those characters getting the disease." And as offensive as some of you may find what he said, it none the less inspired this new story...**

**I'll try not to drag out these author's notes so much, but this is the first chapter and I am providing you an explation/warning about this story before you dive in and read it.**

**This story will contain some gore like my other stories, but because of it's themes and watching our favorite countries get sick, injured or mind controlled, I remind you: it's a fanfic. And although I so make a habit of sticking as close to canon as possible when it comes to forming my little theories, I strongly recommend that if you don't like these kinds of stories where characters are close to the brink of death, you should probably take a look at something else. I'm no Kyo or Pianodream but I know my influence reaches some and I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea or create the new Lavender Town Syndrome... Ok, note over. Do you still wish to continue?**

**Yes? No?**

**If you chose yes, enjoy this story and all of it's twisted glory... And a special thanks to England and Hero, hopefully you know who you are.**

**All Heil the Worm**

It started at the World Meeting...

Although everyone was loud and rambunxious as always, some of the nations keeping to themselves and trying to ignore the chaos. Germany managed to shut everyone up as usual. But as everyone slowly started chatting again, a few nations stood out in particular; slightly pale and drowsy-looking. No one else seemed to notice, so Germany didn't make a big deal out of it and chose the next nation to speak.

After an additional hour of discussing issues that ended up not getting resolved everyone graudally left, Germany being the last one to leave. However as he was packing up his things he noticed there was one more nation sitting in her seat and she appeared to be ill. He confronted her.

"Seychelles, why are you still here? Aren't you going home or staying in a hotel with your family?" He asked, briefcase in hand.

Seychelles' tanned skin seemed lighter than normal and she was rather fatigued. When she didn't answer, he asked her another series of questions.

"Did you catch a cold? Is your economy doing well? Did something happen?"

She moved her head, looking up at him. "I'm sorry, I guess I don't know what came over me... I've been a little tired lately..." She seemed drowsy and out of sorts, so Germany offered her a ride to the airport or a hotel. She insisted she was fine and that it was nothing, but he knew better than to leave someone sick and helpless by themselves.

After much convincing, he ended up taking her to the hotel France was staying at after figuring that she might as well stay with her family.

However when he began talking to France, he seemed almost unaware that she was ill.

"Quoi? You were fine this morning, how did this happen?" France immediately took Seychelles, letting her lean on his shoulder in order to stand up. "Can you hear what I'm saying to you?" He noticed how she wasn't very responsive and wouldn't bother her anymore.

Germany was fairly surprised. Seychelles was independant from France, but since they were like family he expected him to see SOMETHING.

"You didn't know she was sick? And you're saying she was perfectly fine earlier?" The German asked, signalling the man in the taxi that he would return soon.

"Oui, she was perfectly healthy earlier. Angleterre must've done this to her... Him and those horrible scones..." France seemed to get a little carried away, saying he thought England was repsonsible for Seychelles getting sick all of a sudden (as he'd brought some of his disgusting 'scones' to the meeting); followed by how these were scones that looked and tasted more like coal than a delicious pastry. "I swear to you, that man can't cook if his life depended on it!"

Germany tried to change the subject. "Whatever she might've eaten aside, will she be alright?"

"Oui, I'll make sure she gets rest. Unfortunately we can't do much of anything when we get colds... It means our economy is down... It can only get back up naturally, non?" France said goodbye, taking Seychelles inside and Germany not leaving his spot until he saw them go indoors. Once they were safe inside, he ran back to the cab, thanking the driver for waiting and continued to his own destination.

He'd booked a room at a seperate hotel with the other Germanic nations. Prussia of course was just getting a free ride because he was technically no longer a nation so he'd been in his hotel room all day, racking up the room service bill and occasionally going site-seeing around the area. At least room-hopping and visiting the other nations was free...

When Germany returned to his room to find Prussia was gone and had left a huge mess there, however, he knew never to drag him along to another meeting ever again. So he tried calling him on his cellphone. It rung multiple times before finally going to voicemail...

"This is the awesome Prussia also known as-... Here's a robot..."

The voicemail robot finally kicked in, Germany ending his message perfectly by saying 'Verpiss dich, pupskopf*' before hanging up. Nothing about today was productive at all and so he planned on relaxing the rest of the night and leave for home tomorrow. The room was a mess and the bed was invaded by piles and piles of clothes, gift boxes and shopping bags. Too fatigued to clean up but not wanting to damage everything, Germany simply cleared a small part of the bed for himself to sleep in, a pile of junk next to him. He started to fall asleep... But of course, whenever you want to relax something just has to pop up... And upon hearing the sound of the door slamming wide open he knew he wasn't going to get any rest.

"Hey West, why the hell are you so damn tired?" Prussia asked, throwing his back pack full of souveniers on his younger brother. "I spent the whole day with kleiner** Liechtenstein. She's grown up so much... I hope she doesn't turn out like Hungary and attack people with frying pans..."

Liechtenstein didn't go to the meeting either since Switzerland took care of most of her country's affairs. So she, like Prussia stayed at the hotel as well.

His speach was muffled, but holding a pillow over his head and convincing himself he was going to sleep he said: "I doubt it was Liechtenstein who made this big mess. Even room service might refuse to clean this..." He was reffering to the many plates of hotel food and the box of pizza with melted cheese on all sides and the strong smell of garlic attracting flies to it. Not to mention that the floor had colorful stains from many types of drinks including beer, juice and perhaps every kind of cola the hotel could offer.

"Ja, I'm sorry... But i was bored. I can't attend meetings so i goofed off."

"I don't want to see what the bill looks like."

Prussia ignored that last bit, going back into the hallway and enjoying his last brief moment with Liechtenstein for the night before Switzerland came back.

"Finally..." So the German man finally got K.O.'d and slept all through the night.

The morning however went drastically different...

He woke up to his cellphone ringing, so much so that the battery was almost dead. He picked up immediately.

"Hallo?"

"Germany... It appears to be worse than I thought..." It was France.

"What's going on?" A groggy Germany asked, just waking up to a room even messier and stinkier than the night before.

"It turns out that Seychelles' ecomony is perfectly fine. But if that's the case, I don't know why she's gotten sick..."

"She's still sick?"

"Oui and even Britain's so called 'magic' can't do anything about it..."

He heard England yelling in the background, so the whole 'family' must've been there. Never the less, he had to get to the bottom of this. "How could this be happening? If she's not being effected by the economy, why is she catching a cold?"

"I'm not sure. It's a mystery to me. I'm just treating it as a normal cold until i learn more about it..." He sighed on the other end of the line, the noise becoming even more apperent in the background. "I should thank you properly for escorting her back home last evening. I really appreciate it, today she can't even get out of bed."

"No, it's alright. No thanks neccesary... I just did what i felt was right." Germany didn't make a big deal of it. "I'll have to go. I need to look for mein bruder... Hopefully Switzerland isn't trying to kill him..." He hung up the phone hoping that if Prussia was with Liechtenstein, that the both of them would be safe and not in huge trouble. The room looked like after math from the Blitzkreig but with clothes, shopping bags and left over hotel food that wasn't put away instead of rubble and dead bodies. So immediately he began to clean, not even bothering to ring up room service.

Meanwhile...

"So Liechtenstein, was yesterday as fun for you as it was for me?" Prussia asked, sitting with Liechtenstein at a bus stop on 9th street waiting for a shuttle bus to take them to the local IKEA. They'd spent most of the day together yet again. They wanted to go sight seeing around Brooklyn and somehow made it all the way to Park Slope and now wanted to go to Red Hook to look around the IKEA to eat Sweden's food and test out all the furniture.

Liechtenstein simply nodded. "Ja. It was fun. Big brother liked the gift I got for him." She always thought of Switzerland now matter who she went out with. She'd gotten him yet another set of frilly pink pajamas and some snacks from all over New York. "It's too bad he can't come and do things like this with me. So thank you."

"It's alright. Switzerland's always been busy doing whatever the hell he does. I'm happy to fill in and play the role of big brother. I did it with West all the time."

Liechtenstein laughed at the thought, her phone suddenly ringing in her purse. She picked it up. "Hallo?"

"... Liech... Ten... Stein... You..." It was Seychelles' voice but it was extremely scratchy. "Worm..." You could tell she'd either been coughing her brains out or had a sore throat from the way she sounded. Like the kind of sore throat you needed 15 pounds of ice cream to get rid of the pain and dryness that made it hard to talk. She sounded like she needed help. Liechtenstein could hear France and England in the background, but that didn't seem like it was helping her friend much.

"What are you talking about Seychelles? Why do you sound like that, are you hurt?" Although she wanted to enjoy the rest of her time with Prussia, she knew she needed to do something. But like with Switzerland, she always questioned how useful she was.

"All... Heil... The Worm..." And immediately the call ended, nothing but disconnection beeps on the other end of the line, forcing the innocent nation to hang up.

Prussia, able to tell something was wrong knew that going to IKEA wouldn't help her out. "Did something happen to your friend?"

"She sounded weird over the phone... And she said something that really disturbed me... She said 'All heil the Worm'..." She shook her head, taking off the new hat Prussia bought her. "What does that even mean?"

'Well at least she didn't say hiel hitler... thank gott for that...' Prussia sighed. "It's ok... Maybe she's just delusional?"

"She sounded so sick... I have to do something." Liechtenstein immediately called Seychelles back, but got nothing just the voice mail robot asking to leave a message. She hung up. "Oh god..."

"It's ok. It's probably nothing. I'll take you back home. Maybe we can visit her in her hotel. A nice long drive can help you relax." Prussia tied to grag her arm to take her along with him, but the girl wouldn't budge and wore an expression as if she'd just seen the face of death.

"I can't have someone else die... You know what that feels like too, don't you?"

"Calm down. We won't solve anything by getting depressed and flashing back to those days..." Prussia had a point, Liechtenstein taking a few deep breaths in and out before finally calming down. "Alright, so what do you want to do? Do you want to go back to our hotel with your bruder and mein bruder or do you want to go to your friend's hotel to visit her?"

"But i still don't know what it means... 'All heil the Worm', what does it mean?"

**And that's going to be it for the first chapter. I hope you guys like one of my darkest Hetalia fanfics yet. And for 'England' and Hero who may or may not be reading this: Hello and sorry. Here a few translations of words in other languages you may not know:**

***Verpiss dich, pupskopf = Piss off, fart head (German) (i learned this by watching Get Germanized!) **

****kleiner = Little (German) **

**Oui = Yes (French) **

**Quoi = What (french) **

**Bruder = Brother (German)**


	2. Chapter 2

**GOD DAMMIT AMERICA WHY DO YOU MAKE US TAKE SUCH DIFFICULT MATH REGENTS TESTS?! NOT EVERYBODY WANTS TO BE A ROCKET SURGEON OR A BRAIN SCIENTIST! I am very pissed… I'd rather take 10 history regents tests then the math regents…****But I digress…**

**If 'England' and 'Hero' are reading this, particularly if 'England' is reading this and he knows who he is if he's reading… I know you love folk metal. And I know you're not a Hetalia fan, but at least you're Hetalia-tolerant… So to make up for the fact you may or may not be reading this fanfic I'm teaching the fangirls some cultural stuff about what we perceive is cute and innocent Finland. **

**And a note for the fangirls: I hope if you like stories like this where things get serious and you see how Hetalia represents the real world, I hope you're enjoying this story, I know I haven't updated much and this story is kind of slow… And I figured out how Punk-rock!Finland makes sense!**

**All Heil the Worm**

In an attempt to calm her down, Prussia googled the term 'all heil the worm' on his phone but got absolutely nothing except for some fan fiction, anti-virus websites and conspiracy theories. He put his phone in his back pocket.

"We should go back to the hotel. Switzerland might come back from the meeting and wonder where you are. It's not good to go out when you're nervous either…" He advised the girl, taking her by the hand and going up the block. "We'll get a car service and go back so you don't have to walk."

"It's just too bad that Seychelles is staying with her family in an entirely different hotel. How far away is it from ours?" Liechtenstein asked, phone in her hand and trying to dial her friend's number another time.

"Don't make phone calls while you cross the street."

"I-I'm sorry…"

After the crossed the street, they went to the nearest car service building and asked for a car. Unfortunately the guy in the booth could only speak Spanish… So Prussia was extremely lucky when the guy let him and Liechtenstein have a few minutes to discuss what they wanted to do.

"Mein Gott, I should've called Spain or at least Mexico! I can't speak Spanish!" Prussia started mumbling to himself, frustrated and completely in German he must've sounded like a madman to anyone who couldn't understand him. This only made Liechtenstein laugh a bit because she was a German-speaking nation as well and the only one who understood him.

She wanted to say 'why don't you just give Spain a call?' but he was too busy mumbling to himself, trying to think of a way to get back to the hotel and she was laughing at how crazy he currently looked. She could compare him to The Medic from Team Fortress 2 but lucky for Prussia he didn't have any pet pigeons or a revoked medical license…

"Fuck it, I'll just call Spain to act as a translator! I don't like translating from German to Spanish!" So the frustrated Prussian dialed a certain Spaniard's number.

"Hallo, Spain? Ja. It's me. I need you to help me out with something… Ja? What do you mean you're busy? You can't even help out a friend who needs a translator? What are you so busy with? MEXICO'S HOUSE?! You're having a party without my awesome self? … WELL FUCK YOU TOO! I'LL JUST CALL ITALY AND HE CAN BE MY TRANSLATOR! SPANISH AND ITALIAN ARE SIMILAR ENOUGH, RIGHT?" He hung up angrily, Liechtenstein sitting on the bench across from him now on her side and laughing.

"And what the hell is so funny?" He looked at the girl, reminding himself of his younger brother when they were both younger and when they needed a translator when visiting a foreign country and when television and the internet didn't exsist.

"I-I'm sorry…" She sat up again, wiping the tears away after laughing so much. "It was just so funny…"

"If you'll excuse me, I need to call a certain Italian to be my translator instead."

And so it repeats…

At the same time Prussia was trying to get him and Liechtenstein a car back to their hotel, Germany was visiting Seychelles along with the rest of the F.A.C.E.* family. Her condition had not improved and a few of the other countries were starting to visit out of concern. Normally their kind only caught colds If the economy was bad or if it dropped enough. But currently her economy was stable and she was still sick.

Currently her hotel room was the equivalent to a busy hospital room, with everyone doing something or going somewhere they might as well could've had a meeting there if they so chose to.

Seychelles was in bed but resembled a hospital patient told 'the bad news', extremely weaker compared to the day before and unable to move except for a few head movements to make simple gestures with. She smiled weakly as her father** put a wet towel on her forehead to try lowering her fever.

As soon as Germany entered the room with a bouquet of flowers to wish the sick island nation a steady recovery, England pulled him aside in order to discuss the situation in the small kitchen area of the hotel room.

But England seemed emotionally drained from the situation, not even bothering to put the flowers Germany brought in some water. Instead he delved right into the topic at hand. "She's sick."

"Obviously. But there's no reason for this to be happening. The economy is fine, so there's no reason she should be catching a cold."

"Unfortunately I'm a bit under the weather myself, but that's because my economy IS going down. No matter what we do, she can't seem to get better which leads me to believe this is something else entirely."

"Along what lines?"

England stood silent, opening the cabinet and taking out a tea kettle and a few tea cups. "Well we are nations naturally. If it's not the economy that's a problem, maybe it's the people of her nation… A riot maybe? Some publish unrest?" He went on and on as he started preparing some Earl Grey for himself and possibly the other visitors.

Germany sighed. "I just brought her here after the meeting because she didn't look like she'd be able to get here otherwise. I didn't think something so serious would occur." He flashed back to a few years ago when Japan had an Earthquake and a nuclear meltdown. The poor Asian nation was suffering from intense stomach cramps and quickly got cancer due to exposure from the radiation his people suffered. It took him a long time to recover. The cancer might be gone, but because he's a nation he would always be at risk should another meltdown occur.

Unlike Seychelles though, his ailments came with a reason – a cause and effect – Still no explanation for Seychelles' condition.

The German was deep in thought, trying to piece this together, completely ignoring England offering him a cup of Earl Grey. However he finally managed to snap himself out of it when more people started coming into the hotel room. Luckily it was just room service with food for everyone there.

However even after he left, he still had no idea what was going on…

Meanwhile - At the same time in another location…

"Hey Mister Sweden, how long are you going to stay here exactly?" Finland had always been hospitable to Sweden when he came over, but also secretly afraid. He wanted to ask my Sweden would visit him in the first place. Sure they had some down time, but aside from a few folk metal concerts nothing was going on.

Sweden was silent as always, hunched over Finland's desk and reading emails on his laptop.

"Um… Well, it's nothing really. It's just that you came over all of a sudden so I was curious and wanted to know why, ja?" He pointed out, Hanatamago running to him and looking at him with a stare that said 'I want food'. Finland picked the small dog up, both of them looking at Sweden and wondering what he was thinking about. "H-hey… Mister Sweden? Are you alright?"

With this Sweden shut down his laptop, getting up and hugging Finland. "I'm worried about my wife."

"I'm not your wife!"

Upon hearing this statement Sweden let go. "I'm sorry. It's just that I'm worried, ja? The other nations sent me an email saying Seychelles got sick even though her economy is fine. A few of the other African nations sent me similar emails."

"Really? Why are the getting sick if their economies are alright?"

"No one knows. But whatever happens, I want to make sure my wife is okay, ja?"

"I'm not your wife!" Finland shouted; Hanatamago barking afterward, perhaps to deny this claim. He went to the kitchen to refill her bowl with food but afterward started to sneeze multiple times in a row. Sure dog food smelled kind of weird, but it shouldn't make you sneeze that much. This alarmed Sweden, prompting him to ask if his 'wife' was okay.

"Are you alright? Do you have a cold? Is it allergies? Do you want me to take care of that for you?" The questions didn't seem to end, Sweden spouting them out like a robot while keeping a watchful eye on Finland from a distance.

"No, I'm alright." Finland answered. "Anyway I'm going to a folk metal concert tonight, so can you watch the house? It would be best if Hanatamago and Sealand were taken care of."

Sweden almost forgot he'd brought Sealand along. But the childish nation was pretty much glued to the TV upon coming to Finland's house so he was not only extremely quiet, but also very annoyed because he couldn't speak a word of any language other than English. He had to enjoy whatever English-speaking channels there were and read whatever subtitled shows were playing.

Too excited for a night of folk metal, Finland started getting ready by changing into some punk-rock style clothes and carrying a huge backpack full of albums to be signed with enough room for any suveniors he might buy along the way.

"I'm not letting you go anywhere unattended…" Sweden gave Finland a blank stare, looking at his punk-rock style clothes and wondering if England did something to him. "I'm going with you."

"No. I'm alright. Besides, Sealand needs someone to watch him. And I can't get another ticket this late, the concert is sold out!"

"But there are always those people who sell tickets at the door so…"

"Look, whatever is going on, I'll be perfectly fine… Besides, you know I'm a big fan of folk metal and all of my favorite bands are going to be there!" So like a housewife begging her husband to let her go out by herself just this one time, Finland somehow managed to convince Sweden to go out to this concert alone; on the condition that Sweden would pick him up afterward…

"Have fun wife."

"For crying out loud, I'm not your wife! When were you and I ever married?!" Despite constantly being called 'wife' Finland managed to smile on his way out. "Anyway, I'll get something for you after the concert, ja?"

"Ja. Take care."

Finland was prepared to enjoy hours and hours of folk metal because the concert wouldn't end until 3 am. It was only 5 pm, but traveling to the venue would take about 3 hours and he'd have about an hour to site see. Meaning plenty of time away from Sweden.

However at the concert with his favorite songs still ringing in his ears, he began to feel dizzy. Wobbling as he stood in the crowd and feeling a fever come on, he decided it was time to call Sweden and leave. It was only midnight, the concert nowhere near over but he began feeling extraordinarily dizzy to the point where he needed his new folk-metal loving human friends to help him out.

One of the humans stood with him outside, making sure he was ok while the other five humans who helped him went back inside to enjoy the music. Finland said he'd be alright and that someone would come by to pick him up eventually, but the human didn't leave until the nation sat down on a bench to recover.

"I guess… Mister Sweden was right…" Finland looked up at the night sky, trying to focus on the cresent moon to regain his composure. "I should've let him come along… I need to call him…" Hereached into his back-pack to take his cellphone out. But dizzy and feverish he dropped it on the cobblestone ground.

"Did you have a good time, wife?" A familiar voice asked that would normally alarm the Finnish man, but for once gave him a feeling of gratitude.

"You followed me here?"

"I need to take care of my wife." Sweden put Finland's phone in his pocket. "You expect me to leave you like this all alone when everyone else is getting sick?"

Not having enough energy to complain about the title, his back-pack was taken from him and searched to make sure he had everything inside it. Finland left the venue feeling extremely dizzy, only feeling some relief once he got into the backseat of Sweden's car and laying down across all 3 seats.

As they drove back home, Finland had to listen to all of Sweden's nagging and complaining about why they should've gone there together and how lucky they were to have caught each other at the same time. But in the backseat of the car, the Fin found himself uttering a phrase he didn't quite understand. Quiet enough so no one else could hear he said 'All Heil the Worm'…

**Here are some notes to help the confused:**

***F.A.C.E. – This is an acronym to remember France, America, Canada and England. I admit I use it for more than just my fanfiction, I've used it in school to refer to this 'family' of nations in the revolutionary war unit. You could say F.A. (France and America) were allies because of how the letters F and A are together and C.E. (Canada and England) were allies because of how the letters C and E are close together. The entire FA.C.E. family teamed up for World War 2 but C went unnoticed for the most part.**

****Another thing about the F.A.C.E. Family is that their relationships aren't too clear. England and America are brothers in cannon (England adopted America). If you looked at France and Canada in the series their relationship isn't quite stated either, which has lead a lot of fans to believe they're either brothers or have a father and son sort of relationship. Knowing the author and because there are so many pairs of siblings in Hetalia they're probably brothers through adoption similar to America and England, but most fans portray France and Canada as a father and son (including myself) perhaps in order to contrast with the other 'families' in the show and because of the fact Canadian French is a thing. I'm not Canadian so I'm not 100% sure. If you expand the 'family' to include all of France's and England's shared territories/colonies in history (but how you stretch it****varies from fan to fan); the two nations look more like parental figures and are portrayed as such. But of course fandom has a tendency to change things around a bit so in some stories the relationships are changed so that England and France are actual parents. For the sake of convience, I'm portraying them more as bickering parents of America, Canada, Seychelles, ect. **

*****I believe it was in 2010 when Japan suffered a nuclear meltdown and an earthquake and a typhoon(?). I can never quite get the years right… But overall, it happened and it was very sad because my favorite nation already has a dwindling population…We've seen Japan get sick in one episode of the anime and one manga panel in the series. What did he get sick with? A stomach ache that was meant to represent the Great Kanto Earthquake. Incase you need to rejog your memory, it's the episode/chapter where England is attempting to curse Russia but Russia is cursing Japan by staring at him while he's cooking. Then Japan eats what he cooked and after finishing his meal claims that his stomach hurts. So since that has appeared in canon, we know that the nations personifications get a stomach ache whenever an Earthquake happens. But in the case of the nuclear meltdown and typhoon he might suffer more than just a stomach ache. I've only read one fanfic where this event was mentioned (but it wasn't the main subject of said fanfiction) and it portrayed Japan as extremely weak and him suffering from cancer (representing the nuclear meltdown) and having undergone chemo-therapy in order to get rid of it (possibly representing the Japanese government recovering from the disaster). So for simplicity's sake I kept his unfortunate diagnosis the same…**

**You gotta love when Hetalia gets real and starts teaching you stuff.**


	3. Chapter 3

**I PASSED THE US HISTORY REGENTS. AMERICA I'M SORRY FOR BEING MEAN! But your math still sucks.**

**By the way, 'England' finally told me the game I played was called Plague Inc. Enjoy :D**

**I meant for this to come out a lot earlier but AVG got temprimental one day, a lot of stuff happened to me IRL and to top it all off: I'M CURRENTLY SICK WITH A SORE THROAT. What better time to write a story about getting sick than actually BEING sick? Oh Irony… Also I needed to make sure I didn't have a plot hole what with time zones being a thing.**

**So I'm sorry this took so long, there is some yaoi spam in here but it's very innocent and it's strictly for the ladies so if 'England' is reading this just pretend it's the characters from the RP, ok? Not to mention Sweden calling Finland his wife is 100% canon.**

**Ok enough rambling, I shall start :D**

**All Heil the Worm**

Germany arrived back to his hotel room both emotionally and physically exhausted. Having to go back and forth between hotels was getting to him and after closing the door, he crash-landed onto the bed not even caring that the room was finally cleaned up or that a certain Italian was sitting in a chair next to the window and reading a book.

"I-I'm glad you're back…" Italy closed the book he was reading and looked at his tired friend from where he was sitting. They'd been friends for years so even in the present day they always supported each other even for little or personal things that had nothing to do with the nations they represented. It was usually the Italian that needed help, but seeing his beloved friend like this he wanted to support him in some way no matter how big or small. "I knew you'd come back tired… So I made you something to eat. I put it in the fridge so all you have to do is heat it up if you want to eat it later. And don't worry, I like cooking so it's not a big deal…"

The German didn't respond, only groaning with his head under a pillow and trying to get some rest. He felt a blanket pulled over him and heard 'Una Notte a Napoli'* being sung in Italian quietly. He didn't make a big deal out of it, instead enjoying what little rest he was getting and preferring it to getting no rest at all. He didn't realize that he ended up falling asleep until he felt someone shake him awake and tell him that someone was calling him on his cellphone. The ringing took a while to actually hear as he re-entered a state of consciousness. Italy was the one who handed him the phone and he began a groggy conversation with the person on the other end.

"Hallo?"

"Yes, sorry to disturb you with whatever you were doing. I just wanted to update you on the situation…"

It was France, sounding somewhat nervous over the phone.

"Ja? What's the matter? Is it urgent?"

"Well… She seems to be spouting nonsense… She keeps saying a phrase no one else understands. It couldn't be a case of Schitzophrenia can it? Does our kind even get Schitzophrenia?"

"I'm not sure but her condition is new to all of us so anything can happen…" Germany said, feeling exhausted from being awoken so abruptly. "Have any other new symptoms developed?

"Just her saying things no one understands. She's still very weak and she can barely move her head now… I might have to ask one of the others to put her in a hospital and put her on an IV, possibly even a feeding tube…" France sighed in a way where you could tell he was shaking out of anxiety on the other end of the phone line. "Whatever… Tonight, Angleterre** and myself are flying to Seychelles on a private flight in order to investigate. We'll probably leave her in a Canadian hospital. I thought I'd let you know."

"Very well… Auf Wiedersehen***." Germany hung up the phone and put it away in a drawer so even if it rang, it wouldn't be loud enough to wake him up from another nap. He looked exhausted and ready to collapse back into bed and sleep for days on end. The Italian however, had another idea.

Sitting at the end of the bed with a plastic container full of shell-shaped pasta that was lightly sauced, Italy urged Germany to eat something. "You're obviously tired… But you should eat something, you know, so you don't starve or get sick…"

The German groaned, but the smell of re-heated pasta covered in tomato sauce started filling his nostrils and his stomach responded with a growl that said 'hilf mir, HILF MIR****'.

"Please eat something… I made it so that when you came back you could eat." Italy sat closer to his friend so perhaps it would convince him to eat something. "I hope it's good… I had to improvise with what I had. I didn't have a strainer or a stove so I cooked it in the microwave."

"Thank you…" He was handed a plastic fork and started eating. So the Italian could stop pestering him about eating something.

And for once opening his eyes, Italy smiled out of contempt. "You've been so busy that I worry about you. I don't want you getting sick or exhausted Germany. I want to help you out… And I'm sorry if it wasn't that good… I didn't have a stove so-!"

"Nein, it's alright as it is... I appreciate you cooking. You didn't have to do it, but thank you."

Eyes still open and feeling like he needed to let his feelings out Italy asked: "If I got sick… What would you do?" Italy looked down at the carpeting with sad eyes. "I know I'm a burden. I'm always asking you for help and running to you whenever I'm in trouble. You yell at me sometimes but I know you're not _trying_ to be mean… I just don't want to hurt you or cause you too much trouble."

"If you're referring to what's happening to Seychelles… We're all still investigating it. We don't know the cause of her condition so until we find out, I suggest you don't hang around any strange countries for the next few days. I don't even know how long this investigation will take."

"I know that but, I want to be useful to you in any way that I can."

There was a long silence that followed. Throughout history Italy always ran to others for help and when he met Germany it seemed like he became the guy to run to if anything happened that he couldn't handle. They'd both gotten used to this behavior but everything has its limits and feelings start to change with time. Italy knew he could be a burden to others and seeing that he always seemed to run to his best friend for help he didn't want to break their relationship by relying on him too much…

"I-Italy… You're not causing me any trouble. I don't want to get sick either. If you want to help you can, just don't do anything dangerous."

"You mean it Germany?"

"I mean it." Finishing his food, Germany put the container in the sink and took a bottle of dish soap out of the cabinet. "I want to get to the bottom of this issue myself because I don't want the people i-." Before he could finish his sentence Germany was glomped by Italy in a way that would make more sense if he were a woman. "GET OFF OF ME ITALY!"

"Mi dispiace*****!" Immediately out of fear Italy got off of him. Although in the Italian's defense he didn't think he'd jump that high and accidentally slam his chest into the German's face either… "Did I hurt you? I hope I didn't break your nose…"

But before he could find out whether or not he needed to pay for any nose-related plastic surgery his phone rang. The Italian picked up. "Pronto?"

"Ja Italy? I need you to translate something for me…" Prussia was calling to ask Italy to translate some Spanish so that way he could get a car for him and Liechtenstein to go back to their hotel. However…

"Then you should probably call Spain or Romano. I don't speak Spanish. You know Itailan and Spanish are two different languages right?"

And thus more stupidity continued…

After calling Italy and since Italian and Spanish were similar yet significantly different, Prussia gave up trying to get a car to drive them back to the hotel. Liechtenstein had already calmed down significantly and said she wouldn't mind taking a walk around town again, stating that perhaps it could help her stay calm until they went back. They left the booth and started walking through some of the residential areas of Park Slope and then Prussia realized something…

"Hey wait, this is Mikado's neighborhood!" He recognized some of the houses and the playground on the corner. "Yeah this is Mikado's neighborhood. We could probably mooch some food off of her. I think her family speaks Spanish, maybe they can call us a cab or something."

"Mikado? You mean that person we used to make pick-up line videos for?"

"Yup. That's the girl. She's been on hiatus for a while and she's had some really rotten luck but she says she still has a lot of ideas left over she eventually wants to use. It's too bad though… She's been through a lot so she can't start up again even if she wants to…"

"How unfortunate…" Liechtenstein looked down at her shoes, feeling a tad uncomfortable. "Do you think she'll remember us?"

"Of course she will! Sure she's busy but she won't forget about us. Hell she yells as America all the time. It wouldn't hurt just to see if she's home."

The crossed the street and rung the doorbell once, not getting any response. So he tried again still getting no answer. He waited a minute for someone to come down stairs and open the door but after a minute passed he began ringing the doorbell repeatedly like an impatient child waiting outside.

"Um… Should you be ringing the doorbell that many times?" Liechtenstein asked nervously, wondering what the consequences might be for ringing one's doorbell over 100 times in the span of seconds.

"Oh well, I guess she's not home…"

Prussia walked away from the house he realized his goal of getting a cab was futile… He sighed and crossed the street, Liechtenstein following him to the playground. He sat on the bench closest to the entrance and looked up at the cloudy grey sky. "It's too bad… I'm probably going to get in trouble with Switzerland for taking you out, aren't I?"

Liechtenstein sat down next to him, also looking up at the sky. "I don't regret staying with you though. It was fun. I like going out with you because I get to go so many new places I've never been to before. I miss going out and exploring new places. I'm always with my big brother Switzerland, so having a change of pace is nice. I even started sewing again."

They sat down and relaxed despite the chill in the air.

"Hey… Do you miss living at mein and West's house?" The Prussian asked out of curiousity.

Liechtenstein had lived with Germany and Prussia before* and because Switzerland was so strict she often didn't get to see any of them and kept to herself. So because she rarely got to see the others he was naturally concerned.

She looked down at her gloved hands and played with her fingers. "From time to time I do want to go visit you both. Even if I can't see you all the time, we make up for it by going on these little adventures. I like being able to go out. It'd be nice if we could all go out together. You, me, Germany, Big Brother… If we could all go out together, it'd be a lot of fun, don't you think?"

"Ja, it would be fun but-."

Out of nowhere the girl from Liechtenstein started coughing. She coughed hard enough that Prussia thought she choked on her own saliva and he starting hitting her on the back until she stopped.

She eventually did stop, wiping the drool from the side of her mouth. "Thank you."

"Did you choke?"

"I don't know, maybe something flew into my throat?" She spoke meekly, back now sore from being hit so hard. "I'm fine, but maybe we should go back now?"

"Good idea, but we don't speak Spanish so we can't get a car service. What about taking a train?"

"I don't have a Metro Card…"

"Niether do i…"

Both sighed dissapointedly and left the playground.

**Meanwhile – In another place at another time**

"So there's an anomaly with her health and it could be contagious, correct?" Japan asked over the phone.

"Yeah, I've been at the same hotel with her all day. France and England are going to fly over to her place tonight and I'm gonna go back to my house by myself. But now that I'm away from the 'family' I thought I'd let you know what's up." America was standing outside of a Pathmark carrying a bag of junkfood and a box of doughnuts from the Dunkin Doughnuts right next to said Pathmark. "This isn't a really good time for getting sick at least for me. I've got regents tests coming up in June and Mika's yelling my ear off about how they're too hard."

"Ah sou? Mikado-chan is smart though so she can pass if she really tries." Japan at home ramen noodles, holding his cellphone with his shoulders and hoping it didn't fall on the floor or into the ramen. "I'll make sure to check in with both of them. More importantly, I'll have to check in with any local hospitals to see if this is happening to any humans."

"Yeah, you go do that. Don't get sick you hear me? And if anything happens call me." America hung up before Japan could properly say goodbye, looking through the apps on his phone until he found Plague Inc. He started playing the game with one hand with food in the other and standing up outside of a grocery store.

This game might've been just a game but it was supposedly accurate when it came to how disease develops and spreads. He simulated a flu, calling it 'Rosebud' and picked all the symptoms Seychelles was experiencing: hallucinations, coughing, sneezing, fatigue and every other cold-like symptom was available. Since Seychelles was a small island almost nobody knew about he had to assume that the disease was spreading through water because naturally she was surrounded by it. He clicked on that option. The game played out and the simulated disease ran its course but a vaccine was quickly created and the disease was cured. He normally he'd make nothing of it but because this was affecting their kind he did have to worry. He presumed to call his boss.

"Yo, Obama? It's me America. I had a question reguarding a certain app on my cell phone and another country…" He explained everything to the president over the phone but the conversation yielded no solution so he ended up hanging up saying a nice 'goodbye Mr. President ' as a sign-off.

"Well shit… Looks like Obama-care won't cover this one."

**(Chapter end, sore throat killing me)**

**Would you readers think I'm pathetic if I said I kind of put my feelings toward this guy I like when I wrote Italy's lines for this chapter? Worst part there's almost no way this guy would like me back. I guess I'm a sap. I still feel a strange fondness for this particular guy. You could compare him to Germany I guess because he's serious and hard-working and very smart. But even if this one guy I like is 'Germany' he wouldn't like an 'Italy' like me. It'd be a miracle if he could even see me this way once. Even if I could go on 1 date with him and have a good time with this person I'd be happy.**

***Oh, by the way fans: IT WAS STATED IN CANON THAT LIECHTENSTEIN LIVED AT GERMANY'S HOUSE. Meaning that Germany and Prussia could and MIGHT be her biological brothers. We all know Switzerland is her brother through adoption. However until Himaruya says something reguarding her genetic family this is just an assumption of mine and I will always think Prussia, Germany and Liechtenstein are blood related. If you want the episode where this is stated watch the Liechtenstein and Switzerland episodes from Season 1.**

**Anyway, translation time:**

*Una Notte a Napoli – A Night in Naples (Italian) (this is a song by the band Pink Martini, I first heard Vocaloid MAIKA cover it and that's my favorite version of the song. I recommend it.) I have a fanfic called 'Una Notte a Napoli' as well BUT DO NOT READ IT IF YOU DO NOT WANT YAOI! I'M LOOKING AT YOU 'ENGLAND'!

**Angleterre – England (French)

***Auf Wiedersehen – Goodbye (German)

****Hilf Mir – Help me (German)

***** Mi Dispiace – I'm sorry (Italian)


	4. Chapter 4

**Well I got a review from Zee126 that really surprised me. Especially due to this one quote: "I'm so glad someone finally wrote a fan fiction based off Plague Inc!"**

**I didn't know you guys would like this. Even 'England' said (and I quote) "These reviews… My idea actually fucking worked!" and he doesn't like Hetalia because he thinks it's embarrassing to watch… SO THAT'S SAYING SOMETHING. 0_0**

**I got into Hetalia back in 2012 a little before I started going to high school on a trial basis and it's helped me learn more than just history, it also taught me a little about team dynamics and social roles. But now whenever I see sometime related to world news or whenever I open a history book I always think about how I can relate it to the show to help me understand better. A few years ago I noticed several problems with my memory and it's gotten bad to the point where most of my childhood is a mystery and when the commercials come on tv I forget what I'm watching. This memory issue also began affecting my school work when I started being homeschooled so a show like Hetalia actually ended up saving my grades and improved my memory. It also made history fun. It's influenced my life a lot and changed the way I think about real-life events and because it helped me improved my memory and writing by a lot, I will always appreciate and love this series.**

**Ok, enough rambling, story time :D**

It was already close to midnight and the F.A.C.E. Family had long checked out of the hotel they all shared and went their separate ways. Seychelles was flown to a research hospital in Canada and was being experimented on, tested and given every kind of medication currently in exsistance to calm her down when she shouted nonsense like 'All heil the Worm' and some such gibberish. Much to Canada's and the doctor's dismay she needed to be strapped into her bed. After a few hours rest however and as her paranoia and anxiety were drowned out with medication and her symptoms began to change…

"So her symptoms changed? I'll put it into the simulation right now." America was talking to Canada over the phone, being informed that Seychelles' symptoms weren't so much worsening as they were changing. "Say that again?"

With his smartphone running a game of Plauge Inc in one hand and holding his clunky old house phone in the other he asked the Canadian to repeat his findings.

"She still looks pale and she's still physically weak. However she is starting to move again but these movements seem involuntary. She's moving her legs and her feet but it's not like she's trying to walk or anything. It's like she's trying to type out Morse code with her toes or something." Canada explained, looking at the other French-speaking nation from outside of her hospital room though a large observation window.

"Well maybe her body is trying to move itself again since she's too unhealthy to do it of her own volition?"

"Whatever, the point is: her symptoms are changing. She was barely moving at all at the hotel. So other than her flailing around every now and again she had a huge panic attack when we were admitting her here. At first we had to strap her into the bed but she's calm enough now where we don't need her to be strapped in at least from the waist down. It was pretty scary…"

"Ok so what I added to the simulator was this under the list of symptoms: paranoia, anxiety, I removed fatigue-."

"Well she's still fatigued, I said that these movements seemed involuntary. INVOLUNTARY. I hope she can start moving on her own again though that way we can try out other treatments with the doctors and not keep her in bed all the time." While talking over the phone, Canada still kept an eye on Seychelles.

"Then how the heck is she going to the bathroom?"

"We took turns bringing her to the bathroom back at your place, but I'll spare you the disgusting details. No one cares about how someone empties their bladder as long as it's not in public where everyone can see and smell it right?"

"Fine, fine, I added involuntary actions into the simulation." America watched it play out, but involuntary actions by themselves didn't seem to cause much more infections. Once he got enough points, he re-added fatigue as a symptom. "Do these actions seem aggressive at all?"

Canada sighed. "I don't have much time. I'll have to go back soon because it's my responsibility to investigate this. Besides, the doctors can only do so much. Until another human gets infected they can't really do any research that'll make an actual difference. We're human on the outside and on the inside but the big difference is that we live until our nations fall…"

There was silence over the phone lines, each nation observing different developments in real-time.

"Alright, so one big flaw in this simulation of mine is that I don't know she got sick. I don't know how it spread. I can only assume it spread through water and that it had some heat and water resistance. That's big flaw number one. Flaw number 2 is that we don't know what this is. It resembles a flu in every way shape and form give or take a few symptoms but it could be something else. It could be a bacteria or a parasite." America explained, going back to the main menu of his game and looking at all of the options. You could make several kinds of bacteria and parasites as well as a normal flu. "I've only simulated this as a flu."

"I'll suggest an X-ray as soon as possible. But she only just got admitted and we're still testing a lot of other possibilities so unless anyone else suddenly gets sick: PLEASE BE PATIENT." Canada went back into the room, sitting on Seychelles bed. "Let me perform a test of my own for a minute."

He scooted closer to the girl, some of her color coming back and her tanned skin going back to normal gradually. She didn't look as pale as she was before but she was still tired despite her legs sometimes moving when she didn't realize it. Canada put the phone to her ear.

"Seychelles, America's on the other line. Can you say something?"

The girl tried to move her hands to take the phone but as her hands got closer to the small smartphone, her hand fell down onto her chest. "Je… De… Sorry…"

Canada took the phone back. "She spoke a little, that's good right?"

America quit his game out of frustration. "Yeah, it's good but I've gotten nowhere with my simulation. I should call the President again when he's free and maybe he'll help me out. I called a few of the others while I was at Pathmark and told them what was going on but they were just as surprised as all of us were yesterday evening and today in the morning. They either said nothing was going on, that everything was normal at their places or that some people were sick but it was just a normal flu or cold type thing going around."

"Ok, I need to hang up now. I'll run a few of my own tests here. Good luck." Canada hung up and put his phone away. He sighed in a disappointed tone, thinking that the only way anyone would notice him was if something bad was going on. "Tarbarnac.**"

Meanwhile in a different place at a different time…

The sound of a plane getting ready for take-off was almost deafening as England and France prepared to board it, luggage being toted behind them. This was a private flight on a small plane enough for the two of them and a few humans if any were invited. But no. This was a personal matter only a nation could take care of. It was already midnight and Seychelles had already been transferred to a Canadian hospital with Canada. He had free health care so it naturally made more sense for her to be moved there than to stay in an American hospital.

They took their seats in the small private plane, not even bothering to put their luggage in the overhead compartments. Hearing the stairs and doors all being secured, they put on their seat belts and prepared for take-off.

"Did you tell your precious Queen the situation?" France asked, one hand in his lap and the other hand trying to hold England's.

"I told her some, but I personally thought that if I had told her everything she'd worry. The new king is just an infant after all… However I was told to investigate the matter and report back to her."

At this, France laughed a bit. "Oui, you are turning into Ciel Phantomhive~. So does that make me Sebastian?"

"I'll summon an actual demon should I require a butler thank you." England sighed, eating a cinnamon scone he got at the airport before the flight. Unlike the ones he made, this scone actually looked edible. He offered some to France. "If I give you a piece of mine can I have some of yours?"

This prompted France to take out a chocolate chip scone. "If you wanted to have some of mine, you should've just gotten your own. I don't want to look away and find that it has a bite from a shovel in it." He broke off a piece anyway and offered it to the Brit. "You and your scones."

"And you say my cooking isn't good."

The two ate scones together even after take-off just like in the past.

"Eh, do you think by going to Seychelles' place we'll actually find out what's going on?" France asked, about to uncork a bottle of red wine with a knife and England having to remind him that they were on a plane and this high up, breathing is too difficult for both humans and nations alike. And it would suck to have one of the cabin windows break this high up.

"You git, are you trying to uncork wine or crash a plane?!"

So cursing in French under his breath, France uncorked the bottle like normal person. He poured two glasses for his long-time friend and himself. "I just needed something to drink to calm my nerves. I'm somewhat nervous about what we might find when we reach the island."

"We are doing this for a reason. Seychelles' is safe in Canada's care so we don't have to worry. But we should call every now and again." The Brit took a sip of wine with what was left of his cinnamon scone. "This plane lands in an airport in London and from there we'll refuel the plane, pick up a few things and afterwards continue flying. If you want to calm yourself just wait until we reach London."

"I know. But this is serious. I mean, what if one of us gets sick?"

At this, the Englishman paused. "I didn't know you were already thinking of things like that…" He took a sip of his wine and looked out the window, trying to think of what to say so no real emotions got in the way and so he could sound like a logical gentleman instead of a househusband trying to explain to his over-emotional wife that the children were going to be ok at daycare and that they would come back home eventually and you'd snuggle them all over again at the end of the day.

Drinking his glass of wine in one sitting, France put it down on the floor and lay down across 3 seats. "I worry about you. You know I do. I can't help it, it's instinct at this point. You forget how many children we have waiting back home."

"WELL FIRST OFF, I WOULDN'T SAY CHILDREN! YOU KNOW NOT ALL OF MY COLONIES WERE SHARED WITH YOU!" England's yelling must've alarmed the pilot because there was some slight turbulence that (rather surprisingly) didn't shatter the wine glass on the floor. "Calm down, they're all independent now and very few remain dependent on us so there's no need to be a helicopter!"

"I can't help but be a helicopter, I hover! I don't let go! Besides, it's not just the 'children' I'm worried about…" France sat back up, putting an arm around the Englishman. "You know you're my friend. Sure we fought in multiple wars against and along-side each other, but I still consider you my friend. We've been through a lot over the years."

Already feeling slightly tipsy, England found himself uttering nonsense as a response.

"The point is that I don't want either of us to get sick. I want to take care of you, just as I always have."

"Well I appreciate it but I don't need you to."

"Idiot… I want to."

The rest of the flight continued with reminiscence of times gone by and trying to forget the situation at hand, looking on the bright side and hoping to find an answer or a sure of some kind.

Meanwhile, at another place at a different time…

The hotel the Germanic nations were staying at was completely silent, everyone either asleep or having flown back to their own country. The reason Germany decided to extend his stay was because of the fact he found Seychelles sick first and he might have to go somewhere to help the investigation. However it wasn't all that bad because at least Prussia was staying out of his hair and Italy didn't seem to be too much of a bother at the moment… However…

"Mutter Ficker***, I should've let this pupskopf**** rent his own room instead of sleeping in the same bed… It was fine before but what with Italy here…" Germany was quickly regretting his decision of not letting Prussia get his own room. He could deal with messy rooms and food lying around, even sharing one bed was no problem. But 3 in a bed was nearly impossible because the deep-sleep movement was now multiplied and being grabbed, groped and slapped in your sleep wasn't pleasant when there were 2 different people doing it. The whole reason he rented the one room was to attempt to save money. Although Italy was also being a mooch and ended up falling asleep in bed accidentally.

While he couldn't blame Italy, but he knew Romano would be pissed. Romano was still his older brother after all and he seemed to hate Germany no matter what, blaming him for making Italy do some of the things he does. 'Italians…' He thought, looking at his phone and receiving no updates on Seychelles. He put the phone down and was about to take a trip to the vending machine in the hallway when his shirt was grabbed at the hem.

"What's the matter Italia?"

"Are you going somewhere?" The Italian was still clearly tired, but awake enough to realize his friend was going somewhere. He sat up. "There's something wrong, isn't there? I can go if you want me to."

"It's 2:30 in the morning, I doubt there's even a taxi that will drive you back to where you're staying at this hour. There's no problem, I just woke up to get a drink. You want anything?"

"I don't want you to leave me…" At that moment Italy felt something crawling through his ears, causing him to twitch and see if anything had actually crawled in there. "What with everything that's happened, I couldn't want you going anywhere alone. And I'd lie if I said I wasn't a little bit afraid…"

Germany sighed. "Alright, get out of bed. We can go together."

They ended up together in the hallway by the vending machine.

"I'm sorry I ended up sleeping in your bed Germany. I didn't mean to, it was just so comfy." Italy drank a can of coffee. "I won't be able to sleep for a while now, so I'll just read or something and you can sleep comfortably alone."

Cracking open a can of Coke, Germany took a sip and lazily swept his bangs back. "Well you can't go home at this hour. Your brother must be concerned though, so call him when you can."

"Yes sir."

"We need to keep in touch with everyone since now we risk getting sick. I haven't gotten any phone calls since this morning either."

"And our stays did get extended…"

"You're staying in Brooklyn longer?"

"Yes. I'm going to go site-seeing in Little Italy and maybe visit Mikado. I haven't been to Little Italy in a long time, I wonder if it's changed at all."

"I'm only staying for the sake of the investigation."

"Oh Germany…" Italy pouted a bit, drinking down the rest of his coffee. "You can't work like this all the time. You do need to take a break eventually whether you like it or not. Why don't you come on a trip with me once this is all over?"

"Not many places to go in March though… It's still fairly cold and we can't use all our time going on trips. Like it or not, we are still nations."

"Naturally I know that, but if we did nothing but pay attention to politics all the time we'd all catch colds. Our leaders can take care of that, so while we're away from home we might as well have a little time to ourselves."

They stopped loitering next to the vending machine when they saw some room service employees walking their way. They quietly went back to their room like teenagers found having sex behind a dumpster, quietly and awkwardly and trying not to get caught. They were outside the door of their room and continued their conversation.

"Anyway, if we worry too much we'll get ourselves silk too. So if you can, I'd like it if we could spend the day together."

"When the investigation is over then-." Germany coughed 4 times, drinking his soda so to stop. "Sorry, I don't know what happened."

Immediately Italy seemed nervous. "You coughed… Does that mean you-?"

"I won't jump to that conclusion yet. I'm not showing any of the symptoms Seychelles did. A cough doesn't mean much of anything."

"If you say so then…"

They went back into their hotel room in silence, trying not to wake the Prussian up as he slept. He'd tossed and turned so much that he looked like he might fall to the floor and bring the pillows and blankets with him; maybe even break a lamp along the way. With him on the edge ready to fall gave the two just enough space though. So climbing into bed together and pulling the sheets over themselves, they wished eachother good night exchanging a sweet 'gutten nacht' and 'buono notte' with one another.

But the Italian didn't fall asleep right away. Germany did however, leaving him completely vulnerable. The Italian looked at his friend's sleeping face and sat up.

"You always work so hard… You're always busy… You haven't noticed it yet… But one day I will…" He sighed, feeling tears form in his tear-ducts. "Ma io lo amo… Io lo amero per sempre. Anche se comincio a odiarlo, io lo amo ancora…"

The next morning however was not so sweet or sentimental…

Germany's cellphone was ringing so violently that it flew off the bedside table and it's silicone casing saved it from cracking as it hit the floor. The German woke up to an 8-bit version of 'Pussy' by Ramstein****** and the phone vibrating helplessly on the floor.

He picked it up. "Hallo? Care to tell me who is calling at this hour?"

"Germany… I know we've had our differences throughout the years… But we're at Seychelles' place and… It's beyond description…" England didn't seem to be able to express his feelings over the phone lines, his voice hoarse and dry and at times barely audible. "It's terrible…"

"Try to speak more clearly, what's happening?"

"The entire island looks like they're on the brink of death…"

**(Unintentionally lengthy chapter end.) **

**TT_TT Last chapter I ended up putting some of my feelings toward this one guy into Italy and now I ended up putting them into France. I don't know what to do with myself. Just incase this ends up being a trend throughout the rest of the story and I'm doing it unintentionally, I apologize. Maybe I just had so much feels for France in season 5 I ended up contaminating him with my feelings? And In the case of Italy, the 2 characters I have most in common with are him and Japan. And I'm part Italian so yeah. :3**

**IF ONLY I WERE A BRAVE LITTLE ITALY… or maybe if 'Germany' could see my feelings and be a bit more open in those kinds of subjects…**

**Oh and if you caught the reference to the movie 'Because I Said So' you win a Snickers.**

**Anyway, time to translate words in foreign languages:**

**Tabarnac - (This isn't a literal translation for anything really, it's a swear word that comes from the word Tabernacle. ) From what I can gather this seems to be a unique swear-word exclusive to Quebec and the way I've heard it being used it can be compared to saying 'god dammit' or 'mother fucker' . But I only know one Canadian and I haven't heard from him in a while so I can't quite get his confirmation. I also spelled this word a little weird because of how I heard it. But if anyone cares to provide some insight, go right ahead. I only know bits and pieces of European French and Canadian French is a stranger to Google Translate at this time.

***Mutter Ficker – Mother fuck (German)

****Pupskopf – Fart head (German)

******'Pussy' is the actual name of a song by a German band called Ramstein. It's a really weird song but if you're a Hetalia fan you might giggle at it. I'd love to just get a bunch of Hetalia fans in one room, play this song and record all their reactions because to me, this song ended up being really funny (most can argue this is an offensive song though, so it being funny is in my opinion and my opinion alone). It also gave me a crappy but funny pick-up line to use. Yes, I still collect those.

Gutten Nacht - Good Night (German)

Buono Notte - Good Night (Italian)


	5. Chapter 5

**At the time of my writing this, I currently have no internet access. But I thought I'd write anyway out of boredom. A lot of crazy stuff has happened since I last wrote for this story from sad stuff like having relatives in the hospital and me finally kissing a guy I really like…****A few chapters ago I mentioned a guy I liked who I compared to Germany and referred to myself as an Italy in comparison…**

**Well… I smooched 'Germany' :D**

**That was about as happy as finding out Buon San Valentino got animated AND DUBBED.**

**I didn't have the guts to tell him everything I felt but I smooched him and it was wonderful~ And as it turned out it was his first kiss~ Although I didn't know it'd end up being his first. (I think) he's an attractive enough person so I thought he would've had his first already. But instead I ended up stealing it -/- so now I owe him dinner or a Snickers at the very least… However I'm still a hopeless Italy so I don't even think he'd ever like me back but all I can do is try and slowly get braver.**

**Writing this on 8/5/14**

"Yes? Island of death? Where is it?" Norway was on the phone with England, discussing what happened when he went to Seychelles. The Norwegian tried to calm the Englishman down but he was clearly too frantic and getting hysterical. "Calm down, speak in English. I can barely make out what you're saying."

"This island is turning into an island of death. I don't know what in the world happened here… Everyone looks so pale and there are dead bodies on the beach and everything." England was hyperventilating to the point where Norway couldn't tell if he was crying or trying to prevent himself from crying. "So wait a minute, if everyone on the island is sick does that mean…?"

"It's definitely a possibility but this is the first time anything like that has ever happened to any of us. You survived numerous plagues and the Black Death itself. Nothing has ever happened to us. It has to be something serious that we've never dealt with in the past before but I don't understand what it might be…" Norway paced around his house while talking over the phone.

The conversation had continued for about an hour, talking about what might be going on. History books were opened and dusted off, looking through ancient medical texts from various sources. Cures included those using magic and science but nothing seemed to fit. Overtime, the two had to hang up, but even if they were in different locations they were both frantically searching for something that could give them a possible answer.

Norway ran to the private library in his home. Climbing up a ladder into the secret room and getting every kind of book about medicine and magic he could think of, throwing them onto the floor and soon creating a mound of books at the bottom of the ladder.

"What the hell is this?" Norway recognized this voice instantly and jumped down the ladder.

"Well Puffin Boy, an emergency has come up so I'm doing as much research as possible. America told me Seychelles was sick yesterday even though her economy was fine as it was. I haven't noticed anything like that going on here though so I didn't make a big deal out of it. But from what England told me it's really bad. He called it an 'island of death'." Norway looked at Iceland and all his puffins, sighing crossly.

Iceland was currently covered in puffins, all of the birds on his shoulders, arms and Mr. Puffin himself on top of his head. "Seriously? That sounds ridiculous. I got a similar phone call but I didn't actually believe it… If this spreads, what happens to all of us?"

"That's why I need to do research. But fair warning: I may or may not have to use magic so if anything weird happens around the house it's just me…"

"Just don't have any rock trolls invade the house or re-created Frozen."

"Who said anything about re-creating Frozen? You don't see me making clothes out of ice, creating a huge ice castle and shooting ice at you and Denmark** do you?"

"Denmark's been pretty cocky about The Snow Queen getting so popular recently, so don't even begin to bring up how all the roles in that movie got mashed together.*"

"Stupid Dane… First it was The Little Mermaid and now The Snow Queen, how else will Disney make him even more of a show-off than he is now?"

Iceland paused, seeing that Norway was getting somewhat flustered. He knew something must've happened so he said "I don't think I want to know…" and left the room with all of his puffins.

Norway uttered 'stupid Dane' to himself once more before collecting all of the books and reading them on the couch. This would take a few hours…

But looking through all of the text of ancient tomes written by Vikings and druids, he wondered if something else was at play. Even if there was a potential cure or answer to this problem in any of these books, it'd be magic against science. Nothing was certain and because they were nations, even more uncertain. Their bodies were merely decorations to represent the land and it's people. They looked normal enough but were so vastly different, normal humans couldn't quite comprehend it. Even how they came to be was a mystery and although an actual 'death' was a rare occurrence, it was still a void of uncertainty. Into the hours leading up to sunrise, he would study and study until his more human-like needs forced him to sleep…

Meanwhile- at the same time, in another place…

"Sweden, I don't feel so good…" It was dark but still slowly turning into morning. Finland woke up with a headache. Their dog Hanatamago sat at the foot of Finland's bed looking at him with some pity in her eyes. She wished she could talk on a day other than X-mas*** but instead she resorted to barking softly, but loud enough to get Sweden's attention.

"Ja, ja, I'm coming." Sweden was back and forth, walking around the house to find something that would ease his 'wife's' pain. First he gave his 'wife' a wet towel to put on his forehead and then got some pain relievers. Afterward he got a table small enough to fit in Finland's bed and unfolded it so it was right in front of him when he sat up. But as he tried preparing some soup in the kitchen, he felt a constant need to keep an eye on the Finn so every 30 seconds (or so it seemed), he'd exit the kitchen and come back to check up on him.

"Seriously Sweden, I'm alright, you don't have to check up on me every second of the day!"

"I don't want you getting sick. I have to do this."

Finland slid up, putting the towel over his head like a lampshade. "Will you please just go back to doing whatever you're doing? I only have a headache, I'll be fine." With this, Sweden left the room.

In truth, Finland felt his pain was getting worse but hid it behind an annoyed expression. He was very friendly and kind naturally but everyone has things that annoy them. It's human nature to dislike things, nothing wrong it. But although Sweden probably meant well, it felt almost like having a husband who cared too much. The kind who couldn't tell when he was crossing the line and making you feel uncomfortable. The kind who mistook a friendship for a romantic relationship, almost stalker-like. From time to time, he honestly thought he was suffering from Stockholm Syndrome****. He quickly grew paranoid and anxious, Hanatamago immediately noticing this and starting to shake out of anxiety herself.

Sweden came back into the room with a bowl of chicken soup, putting it on the table. Immediately after he picked up the small white dog, wondering why she was whimpering and shaking so much. "Finland, until you get better, I'm going to stay with you for the next few days. Sealand is fine on his own, he's being brainwashed by the TV anyway… I'm going to take care of you and-."

"No…"

The answer that came out of the Finn made Sweden step back a few steps. "What did you say?"

"I said no…" Finland got out of bed, walking up to the Swedish man and the now fear-stricken dog. "I don't want your help, you're constantly being there makes me down-right sick sometimes! Why are you always here anyway huh? To spy on me? To make sure I don't escape?! It's just like at the concert, you must've been waiting for me outside that venue the entire time! You just love stalking me, don't you?!"

"Calm down, you're scaring the dog. I don't know what's going on but-!"

"DON'T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN!" So out of a moment of irrationality, Finland opened up his closet and took out the first shotgun he could find. "YOU'RE ALWAYS TRYING TO KEEP ME IN A RELATIONSHIP YOU'RE ONLY IMAGINING! HAS IT EVER OCCURRED TO YOU THAT I'M NOT ACTUALLY YOUR WIFE?!"

And in a moment that seemed to cause time to stand still, he fired the gun, grazing the left side Sweden's head and taking some hair with it, creating a clean diagonal line of now slightly burnt blonde hair decorated with gunpowder.

But Sweden didn't seem to want to act on anything. He didn't even bother trying to move away incase the gun was indeed loaded. He only shielded the dog by covering her ears and head with one hand and the rest of her small fragile body with his other arm. When it did come time to act, he simply put the dog out in the hallway and locked the bedroom door so she wouldn't come in again.

"Don't come near me… You're trying to keep me around when you don't even acknowledge how I feel… You're my friend… But I can't continue being your so called 'wife' any longer… These feelings you have are too much, I don't know how you can live like this. Do you want to be loved that much where you'll even take a person who doesn't even love you back?!"

Even still, Sweden didn't act, continuing to be the equivalent of a stone wall.

"ANSWER ME YOU IDIOT! Otherwise…" His tone suddenly changed to a sinister one full of malice that was completely out of his character and one he couldn't have taken on otherwise unless something was seriously wrong. The looked down the shotgun barrel, knowing that it's get a reaction out of the Swede even if it were only some slight movements of the eyes and a few sweat drops across his forehead and in the back of his neck. The Finn put the head of the gun under his chin. "I'll have to take care of things myself."

"NO!" Having to force his friend down onto the ground and wrestle the shotgun out from his grip, the Swede had visible tears in his eyes. "You idiot…"

He realized quickly though that even though his worrying was for nothing, he was grateful that the Finn didn't actually shoot himself in the head. There was a red circle with black powder from where he pointed the gun but that was only because of how hard it was pressed up against jaw. When he finally had the gun in his possession, he threw it to the opposite side of the room.

"What's becoming of you now? Why is this happening?"

Finland was unresponsive, hitting his head hard on the floor and now knocked out. Despite the violent and reckless outburst however, he still had an innocent face. This cruel persona came out of nowhere for almost no reason. No reason the Swede could think of at any rate…

He tried to think what might've caused this but instead found himself breaking down emotionally as well, but internally rather than externally. He sat down next to his 'wife' and his sleeping body, the back of his head miraculously not bleeding or bruised. This reminded the Swede of how he was shot and so he felt the left side of his head only to find that the hair that had been grazed off had already grown back and that there were no scars on his face. He sighed, staring at his 'wife's' sleeping body and unable to act. He was still, he was silent and felt like he was on the verge of insanity…

He knew that neither one of them could die, so he knew for a fact his 'wife' was knocked out, sleeping he told himself. "Ja… He's sleeping… And I must be having a nightmare…" He stood up, closing all the curtains and making sure the door was locked. Once he was sure the room was as private as possible, he cleared the small table he'd folded out on the bed and put it on the floor, soup still warm. He lifted the Finn up onto bed and pretended like nothing happened, that everything was normal and that he was simply sleeping.

This was denial; denial that Finland said anything that he said when he was enraged with a gun still in his hands, yelling to the top of his lungs about how Sweden must've been a stalker. Although even if these feelings were true Sweden didn't do it on purpose… But he even denied those feelings, memories erasing themselves and the ones that couldn't be erased being locked away in a vault. He pretended everything was normal, that nothing happened.

He convinced himself that Finland just fell asleep and his headache went away. He lay down next to him in bed, pulling the sheets over the both of them and still telling himself that nothing was wrong… They fell asleep together, both unaware of what actually happened.

Meanwhile…

Sealand was already asleep on the couch after flipping through channels and trying to find some nice late night entertainment in English or at least with English subtitles. He only woke up when he felt the dog licking his hand. He picked her up, petting her and hugging her. "What's the matter? I thought you were with Finland."

Hanatamago wasn't as shaking as much as before but she was still visibly nervous and panting.

"Please calm down, I don't speak dog so…" He got up, going to where Finland's room was. But on the way there he felt that something was wrong, feeling a dark energy gather in the hall. Unlike England, he couldn't use magic but he could tell when something was really wrong. The closer he got to Finland's door though, the small dog started crying. "Alright fine, I don't think I want to go in there either… But without their help I really can't do much of anything here…"

The dog barked, jumping out of his arms and running back to the living room. She was too innocent and couldn't speak in order to tell the boy what she witnessed, so she did what she could and looked around the room for something that could help the boy understand. She jumped up onto the couch and barked, urging him to come back.

He went back to her, asking her what was wrong. But of course she couldn't speak like a human, so she could only whimper. "I'd give you something to calm you down, but I don't know what you want… Do you know where the food is here? I've been eating junk food all day…"

She knew she could at least help the boy find food and thus jumped off the couch and showed him to the kitchen and scratching a certain cabinet where foods that would suit his palette were hiding.

He opened the cabinet up and found some foods he was more familiar with. Mostly American foods with some finish writing on them, but he could easily recognize the brands by looking at their packaging. "Thank you for helping me find the good stuff. I appreciate it."

Boy and dog would have to take care of each other for the rest of the night, the boy blissfully unaware of what happened and the dog unable to tell him for the sake of his safety. It wasn't all that bad though because at least they had enough to eat.

It would be a long night alone…

**(This is already taking me a forever to write, so I'll end it here for today)**

***For all the Frozen fans out there you might be surprised how it and The Snow Queen (the story that Frozen is based on) is so drastically different. The Snow Queen has a lot of messages about religion (Christianity) being forced down your throat and has a magic mirror that shatters and when pieces of the mirror land in people's eyes and hearts it turns everything they see distorted and evil. The Snow Queen is also about a girl named Gerda (who you could compare to Ana) trying to save her best friend Kai, who was enchanted by the Snow Queen (who you can compare to Elsa). The girl's friend Kai can be compared to our favorite ice lover Kristoff. In Frozen the roles of the Kai and the Snow Queen are lumped together in Elsa's character and Ana is the main character trying to save her. The Snow Queen as it was originally written is so different from Frozen that you'll have to read the original to see how completely different they are. **

****The Snow Queen is that it was written by a Danish man named Hans Christian Anderson who also wrote The Little Mermaid. So you know what this means fangirls? No more Hetalia x Disney Princess art with Denmark as Ariel, instead we make him Elsa or Kristoff! (in my opinion) maybe Kristoff and Norge as... You get where I'm going with this...**

*****This little note is specifically for 'England', new Hetalia fans or those who haven't read the X-mas Bloodbath specials yet. Finland and Sweden adopted a dog together in another strip and called her Hanatamago and only during the X-mas Bloodbath events can Hanatamago speak like a human (well, whatever language you're reading Hetalia in that is…). The X-mas Bloodbath events are really funny and fanservice-filled holiday specials where France almost always wears cat ears and reads our letters/requests and tries to make them happen within the storyline. These seem to come out every 2 years similar to the Heta-ween specials so I don't believe they're available every year… P.S. When you're in public school, don't refer to a fun event as a 'Bloodbath'… Only you'll get the reference and think it's a fun celebration while all of the teachers around you will ask you if you know what the word 'Bloodbath' actually means and think you're crazy… I speak from experience…**

******Final translation note: Stockholm Syndrome is an occurrence where a kidnapped victim starts having sympathetic feelings or feelings of love toward their kidnapper. The name for this occurrence came from a bank robbery in Stockholm, Sweden that took a long time to resolve and hostages started feeling sympathetic, even siding with the kidnappers. If you apply this to Hetalia and the Sweden and Finland pairing, this is actually a dark look at their relationship. The reason why this can be seen as so dark is because Sweden calls Finland wife even though he resents the title and because he can be so protective of the guy. Some darker stories and fan portrails can make Sweden out to be almost like a controlling husband-type of character who can't leave his wife alone and Finland just has to deal with it because there's almost no way out, or there are ways out but they're not always the best ways. But in canon, they seem to have a good relationship despite the occasional miscommunication. This is just some food for thought on my part. Considering the fact that in canon Finland also feels like Sweden is 'scary' and 'creepy' may also support this darker look on their relationship. So it might not be all that crazy to think that Finland hasn't thought that he might be suffering from Stockholm Syndrome after all…**


	6. Chapter 6

**Sometimes I get embarrassed looking back on that stuff but I have a policy: don't get rid of a story unless it's truly terrible (like Holy Terror by Frank Miller terrible).**

**So even if I do get a little embarrassed looking back on stories I wrote and want to delete them, I still keep them up because we can still learn from a story that's not really well written. Granted I don't think anyone should write a bad story on purpose, but you can learn from a badly-written work. You can learn "this is not how to write an OC" or "This is how not to write a romance/adventure/action". And then there are the "so bad it's good" pieces of work which are in a unique category, but so not to drag this on, I shall stop my rambling and give you more AHtW**

**P.S. Sorry I haven't updated much. Homeschool finally started so it's been keeping me busy...**

'This is an island of death…' The thought repeated itself in the Englishman's mind, the voices getting louder and louder and making him wonder what was going on all the more. Not even Flying Mint Bunny* could cheer him up now because he almost instantly sunk down into despair upon reaching the island of Seychelles. He broke down on the sand on the shore and started crying after he hung up the phone. France had to drag him into the house Seychelles lived in and tie him down so he wouldn't lash out at anyone. He was currently in a state of calm, repeating 'this is an island of death' so much in his mind that the words were losing their meaning.

He lay down in bed looking weak and frail with a blank expression that made him look like he was either becoming a zombie or getting ready to drift into a deep sleep.

"What an idiot…" France however still needed to take care of his friend, so he did, preparing some French cuisine with what Seychelles had left behind in the fridge and a tank full of baby swordfishes not wanting to get eaten anxiously watching him cook.

"This is the island of death…" England muttered aloud, unable to turn onto his side to see what the Frenchman was up to. His voice now creaky and weary he asked what was going on and who brought him here, sand still in his clothes, trapped under his fingernails and on the tips of his eyelashes trying not to fall into his eyes.

"-I brought you here naturally. Sure, I was traumatized by what I saw too but you were in shock so…" France stopped chopping up potatoes for a minute to look back at the Englishman with a friendly expression so to calm him down through body language. "I had to toughen up and bring you here…"

England hunched as he sat up, not caring about anything and still feeling exhausted despite having lay down for so long. "How long have I been out?"

"Very long. Now I've made you beef stew, so eat it. I don't want you fainting or having any more panic attacks!" The Frenchman handed his friend a bowl of beef stew, hoping he'd eat something to regain some of his lost energy. "If you don't eat it I'll have to punish you."

The Englishman didn't want jokes or cheering up. He felt like flying back home on a plane immediately and sleeping in the dark, never waking up. "I want to go home. This is an island of death we're dealing with. If this is really spreading… if this disease or whatever the bloody hell this is gets any worse the United Nations will have to start an even bigger investigation. It's involving the humans… We get sick, sure, but for a disease to affect an entire island? No wonder she's in a hospital right now…"

"I'm telling you to stop talking and eat before I seriously punish you."

But too depressed to eat, England pushed the bowl away.

This annoyed the Frenchman, pulling his friend's bushy eyebrows and saying "I'll seriously turn you into a bloodbath if you don't eat something. It's not even the holidays yet!" Knowing the Englishman hated that kind of thing, he thought this was a good enough threat. But this seemed to have no effect on him. He was depressed and wasn't even moving or reacting to getting his eyebrows tugged on.

"Go away…" The Englishman was set on shutting himself inside, not matter what the consequences. He was falling into despair and losing his cares to the sea. He was beginning to feel as if he's died upon stepping foot on the sand. What was once the innocent island of Seychelles was now a land contaminated with disease and dead bodies lining the shore.

France gave up. He took the bowl of stew and started eating his cooking, sitting on the edge of the bed. "I know we've had our differences but it's not like I'm going to try to poison you with my cuisine. Hell, you're food is even starting to improve**. We are still friends overall."

England didn't say anything, feeling as though he was being consumed by a force darker than even the strongest black magic could muster. He was being confronted with feelings he didn't understand and feeling ways he never felt before. He was tired but he knew he had to act, at least call the Queen and tell her what was going on. But even though he knew it was his duty as a nation he didn't want to act because of how exhausted he found himself physically and emotionally, something he couldn't comprehend tugging at his heartstrings and his brainstem yelling at him violently while telling him to calm down and sleep it off at the same time.

Then he came to somewhat of an epiphany… Perhaps this was the fear of dying?

**Meanwhile – at a different time in a different place…**

Italy woke up in a lonely hotel room alone. He'd accidentally fell asleep the night before and mooched off of his German friend. He'd also woken up in the middle of the night and spent a few hours tossing, turning and reading the boring books the hotel staff had so kindly stuffed the bookshelf in the room with. He'd read through the bible that some hotels room seemed to come standard with and a third of the books on the shelves ranging from "Famous American Plays of the 1930s" to "Walking on Eggshells". But now he was completely alone and bored out of his mind, but now even lonelier than he was sleeping in between two of his friends.

He didn't find a note in the room that might've suggested they went somewhere while he was asleep. He checked his phone for any missed calls but only found about 20 from his brother and none from either of the Germans. He sighed, calling his brother back so he wouldn't worry.

"Pronto!" And just as Italy expected, Romano sounded pissed on the other line.

"Ve~ I'm sorry I didn't call you back Fratello. I kind of fell asleep by accident… In Germany's room… You know, the hotel he and the others are staying at…"

"I had a feeling you were with that bastard… You could've called me earlier to tell me you were sleeping somewhere else you know."

On the other end of the line though, Italy could've sworn he heard car engines and someone shouting. "Hey, what's that noise?"

"Oh me? I'm… Playing Mario Kart…"

"With who?" He heard noise in the background suggested Romano wasn't alone. He might be better off having someone else around but if not, nothing would really change all that much. Romano was tough.

"Well people have been in and out of here all day so I've been playing a few rounds with Belgium…"

The younger Italian swooned a bit, the same way a doting parent might swoon when their child mentioned a person they had a romantic interest in. Romano did have a crush on Belgium as a child, though no one was sure about that now. He seemed closer to Spain than anyone else.

Before he could ask if he got anywhere with her though, he heard the both of them shouting in unison and swearing in their respective languages. Unable to understand Dutch or Flemish in the slightest, he could at least tell when his brother was letting out all the classic swear words and making it rain F-bombs… He must've lost…"Um, alright? Anyway, I just called to tell you I was ok."

"Alright! Don't do anything stupid!" He hung up.

The Italian sighed, looking around the empty and almost lifeless hotel room wondering what to do and who to hang out with now. If another meeting as being held then he should've been told. He then called Germany on his cellphone only to be met with the voice mail robot. He tried calling Prussia only to get his voicemail as well.

He tried not to think much of it, deciding to call America's house phone to see if he was free.

It took long for the American to pick up the phone and Italy could hear some kind of preacher in the background, most likely something on TV. "H-Hello?" America sounded as if he just woke up also, his voice clearly groggy and a bit hoarse. "Who is this again?"

"It's Italy. I wanted to know, is there a meeting today?"

"I don't think so. Why do you ask, was there another emergency?"

"No, I'm not sure. I just woke up and no one was with me so…"

"It's 2:30 in the afternoon… I don't think there's a meeting. But I pulled an all-nighter trying to-." America yawned. "-Help people, you know, Hero stuff… So what else is up?"

"Nothing really… It's pretty lonely and I have no idea where Germany went. So maybe if you're not busy, you want to do something?" The Italian hoped he'd say yes to hanging out as he didn't want to be alone at the moment. Disease might be spreading and he wanted someone to protect him. His brother was off playing Mario Kart probably back at their hotel and he would get a nice scolding if he showed up now. Germany was off doing who knows what and Prussia was gone too. He was alone.

Italy and America weren't at war now either, so they were on somewhat friendly terms and the mafia activity in America during the 80's and 90's also managed to keep them talking to one another.

The American yawned over the phone again, obviously tired. "I feel like I have to work and find out what's going on… But I guess hero stuff wears you out… Do you wanna do anything in particular?"

"I thought about going to Little Italy and seeing what was going on there."

"Well China Town keeps on expanding so it might not be as big as you remember it being last time you came over. You sure you wanna go there?"

"Well, unless you're too tired or have something better to do… And we don't _have_ to go to Little Italia…"

America looked at his watch, then at his phone which was out of battery from Plague Inc. running on it all night long. "Ok, just one problem. Cell phone's totally dead so-." He yawned once more, plugging his phone into the wall to charge. "Instead of going straight to Little Italy, you wanna meet me at my place?"

"That's alright, I'll come to you then. You live in New York City, right? Or did you move?" Italy noticed the sound of the preaching in the background seemed to get louder, hearing America mumble to himself and hearing the click of the phone being put down for a few seconds before he picked the phone back up an continued, the preaching in the background having stopped.

"Well I'm just staying at this one place in Park Slope*** for now… Thought I needed a change of scenery, not to mention saving money and…" Italy could've sworn he head the American snore lightly before he continued. "A-anyway, I'll give you the address and leave the key under the doormat."

About an hour later and getting really lucky with the trains being on-time, Italy managed to get to the place America was staying at for now. He was supposedly trying to save money but the building was an expensive-looking red brick building in the middle of a shopping district. He opened the door using the key and went up to the apartment specified over the phone. The door the America's apartment was wide open as if to welcome the Italian. However, the possibility of the American forgetting to close the door was also likely. He walked inside, asking if anyone was home and finding the American sleeping hunched over his desk, cell phone charging and laptop on sleep mode.

"America, are you awake? You look like you're hung over…"

Instantly America jumped up, waking up with a jolt and a scream, looking around to see what happened and who was calling him. Adjusting his glasses, he found Italy standing over him in classy and almost jazz-era clothes.

"Oh hey Italy, didn't know you came from the 1920s… Why so formal?" America leaned back in his office chair which looked more stiff than comfortable. Although sleep deprived, he tried appearing cool and at least pretended to be awake. "Yeah… Aside from the clothes, why did you wanna go to Little Italy with me of all people?"

"I don't want to be alone when there's a disease going around. I told you over the phone. Not to mention I have no idea where Germany went and since we're at your place I thought you might've known."

"I don't know, have you tried calling him on his phone?"

"I did, but no response."

"Have you tried calling him again?"

Immediately Italy felt like an idiot. But he couldn't exactly deny that he did want to see America. Germany had completely disappeared, abandoning him in a hotel room so he wanted some company. He had plans to sight-see around Manhattan anyway and since the German was missing in action, America was the second best option.

"I'm sorry. I don't want to bother you. I'll leave." Making an about-face and heading toward the door, he was stopped and grabbed by the wrist.

"Wait. You don't have to go. Besides, you came all the way here so why not stay for a while? I wouldn't mind hanging out. Plus I'm the hero and it's not very hero-like to send someone away after they just showed up!"

"I'm not bothering you?"

"Of course not! If you're as concerned as I am, maybe you could help me out with this Plague Inc. stuff." America seemed a tad more awake after suggesting this. "But first, you think you could run to the Starbucks and pick me up a cup of coffee? The closest one is at the Barnes and Noble but there's an actual Starbucks further down the block."

"Why spend 6 bucks on one cup of coffee? I'll just make you one right here!"

And so a strange partnership was formed on the basis of loneliness, exhaustion, coffee and Plague Inc.

**Meanwhile… At the same time, in another place…**

"Ah, sou?" Japan was on the phone with France, talking about England's breakdown. "I didn't think England-san would break down like that. But to each his own."

"Oui, he is having a terrible time. We might have to fly back sooner than expected… But this is Seychelles after all, if you came out here you'd be forced to stay a week due to lack of flights."

"Well, only under normal circumstances. You went there on a private flight, so couldn't you ask your bosses to fly you back immediately?"

"Well hypothetically yes, but we only just got here. I wanted to spend at least 3 days to investigate the problem. Not to mention that planes aren't instant. If we can't get a plane, I'm pretty sure we can get a boat from another African nation to pick us up. I'm leaving that as a last resort though. I have a few questions of my own in need of answering."

"I was informed by America-san that this disease might affect us. But even though I was told to be cautious, I want to investigate this myself. Though, I have no idea how to start." Leaning back in his desk chair and shutting off his computer, the Japanese man listened to everything his French acquaintance needed to say.

"Why not try going to America for the weekend so you can get all of the news directly? As far as we can tell it's only the African nations who are getting sick thus far, so knowing him and all of his fast food**** he'll be fine." France's worried sigh was audible over the phone. "I should go, Angleterre needs me."

"You do that, you're the only one there to take care of him. Sayonara." Japan hung up the phone, unzipping his red jumpsuit after feeling as though he was suffocating. He went to the kitchen and got himself a bottle of sake, pouring himself a cup and downing it like a shot over the sink.

'This is bad. It's obviously bad. For a disease that affects humans severely enough to affect us is a serious matter. It'll be best if I investigate the matter for myself…'

And after drinking a few more cups of sake over the sink, he called his boss and inquired about the possibility of taking a private flight to the United States…

**IF YOU DON'T KNOW SOMETHING, LOOK DOWN HERE! HOW FUN!**

***Flying Mint Bunny – a magical flying bunny only England can see. In canon, England can use magic as a reference to all of the fantasy stories that have come from England. Most notably: Harry Potter, because that got its own strip in the web comic where England is wearing a shirt with the spoilers of the last book on it. It's a funny strip, but don't worry it doesn't have any actual Harry Potter spoilers in it, even after Japan demands that England takes of the shirt and has more spoilers written on his chest. However from what I looked up on Harry Potter, the so called 'spoilers' England was wearing on himself were false. England can see other magical creatures such as unicorns, fairies and pirates, as made famous from one episode of the anime and one strip in the manga. But Flying Mint Bunny is the most popular among the fandom because of it's cuteness. The Japanese dub doesn't name the creature though, the name 'Flying Mint Bunny' is only for the dub.**

****I'm going off of some of the stories my home school teacher Suzanne told me about when she visits France and England. There's an underground tunnel connecting France and England and you can go there by train. So she can easily get to England when she's in France. I asked her if British food was as bad as they say and to my surprise she said "they've improved their food, they brought in chefs from abroad"**

*****Some of my readers might notice that I tend to place America in my home town of Park Slope. I have a few comical reasons for making him live in Park Slope. Reason 1: There is a chain of sushi places called Kiku Sushi. AS IN JAPAN'S HUMAN NAME KIKU! And I've found 3 of these resturaunts in my town, one of which is close to my old elementary school and one which is next to my dog's vet. Reason 2: There's a maternity store called Boing Boing… I don't think this reference needs any explaining… Reason 3: Chip Shop, it's a British Food place which I only know about because of this car that drives around town every now again with one of England's queens on the hood and the Union Jack plastered on all sides of the vehicle. Last reason: Café Sweden. I don't know the actual name of the café, but there is this Swedish coffee shop across the street from my former high school when I used to go to school in person. And every time I pass by it I giggle to myself thinking 'Café Sweden is real'.**

******Last reference to the show/manga in this chapter I swear, these notes are driving me nuts! In one episode of season 3 and in one strip in the manga England has a terrible cold because his economy has gone down. France is taking care of him, makes the weirdest face ever and then America busts into the room saying he has a cure for England's cold. The cure: Putting a hamburger on England's head. The theory as to why a hamburger of all things might cure the cold/economic troubles is because fast food is fairly cheap to make and buy and a citizen's power to consume helps the economy. I'm not accountant or economist but there must be a reason why some shirts say "I'm not a shop-o-holic, I'm just helping the economy"**


	7. Chapter 7

**The notes were starting to drive me nuts last chapter, although the reason why there are so many notes for this story is because some of my non-Hetalia fan friends have also been reading this. I've been trying to keep the notes short the past few months/times I've posted, but since they're reading this and actually finding this story good is the reason why the notes have been extra-long. However these little notes are filled with plenty of info and updates so if you do read them, I appreciate it as well as apologize. I also realized I suck at writing stories with multiple time-zones… So I'm going to fix that over time and keep a good portion of the cast in one place which means my favorite nation Japan is gonna go to America. ^-^ I wanna be nice to Japan before a lot of bad stuff starts happening, especially since during my first play through of Plague Inc., he suffered the most. That hit me in my Japan-loving gut.**

**Also, I ended up watching some season 5 episodes with 'England' and you know what he said?**

**He said it was actually pretty good and that he liked it. KEEP IN MIND, THIS GUY THOUGHT HETALIA WAS EMBARESSING TO WATCH AND KINDA DUMB BEFORE SO HIM SAYING THE SEASON 5 EPISODES WERE GOOD IS A BIG SHOCK! Immediately afterward though, I assumed his 2P replaced him and then attacked him with a pasta strainer. That was a good day. He's become pretty Hetalia-tolerent since then, more so than before.**

**;_; too bad it's always the guys that are the most helpful who end up breaking your heart…**

**All Heil the Worm**

After 2 cups of coffee and hours of simulating a disease on a tiny cellphone screen, America was finally able to admit he was tired as hell. He was pretty much spending whatever time he was awake trying to be a hero (using his words). And while this was all well and good, even superheroes like Batman and Superman need some time to themselves. Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent couldn't be their super hero identities all the time… However, even if he was exhausted he was still set on being a hero.

Italy however didn't want his kind host to faint in front of him, so when America got up from his desk chair he pushed him toward the comfiest looking couch in the living room and forced him to lie down. He threw some blankets and pillows on top of him as if to weigh him down, only to be met with whining.

"Italy come on, I need to focus on hero stuff!" The American shouted, eyes just barely open and begging to stay closed for at least 72 hours.

"No. As your senior I can tell you that taking a siesta when you need one is beneficial. You must've been playing that game all night and all morning. That's not healthy." Despite his cheerful nature, Italy was one of the oldest countries in the world, rich with history but still as youthful and happy as ever as if nothing bad ever affected him.

America simply groaned in response, wanting to stay awake despite the effects of the coffee being long gone. He sighed, giving into the older country's suggestion and closing his eyes. "It's just that I still don't know what's going on… I've simulated bacteria, viruses, parasites, funguses with all of the symptoms everyone's told me about. I even modded my game to include some symptoms that aren't in everyone else's game yet. I've been trying so hard for the past 24 hours but I still can't figure out what it is."

He was obviously trying. The game simulated disease realistically enough, even had specific scenerios that could be played out involving other diseases of the past such as the Black Death and Swine Flu/H1N1. But no luck.

The Italian watched over him, sighed and sat next to him on the floor. "You shouldn't worry so much. Every hero has allies right? You just need time to rest and let your friends help you." He started almost instinctually flicking Nantucket* around "If you don't relax you'll catch a cold. Don't make me give you the same speech I gave Germany yesterday."

"Italy… Would you stop playing with Nantucket?"

Realizing what he was doing, the Italian stopped, blushing lightly. "I'm sorry, it's just that you look so vulnerable in your sleep that I couldn't help it. Besides, there's nothing wrong with having it. It's not an erogenous zone like mine**."

"Whatever, I just need to sleep. You should call someone to pick you up, if not you can stay, but it isn't gonna be fun watching me sleep…"

"It's alright, you've been up for a long time so you'll be better off sleeping."

And when he could tell that the American had finally drifted off into sleep, he couldn't help but feel alone again despite having hung out with the sleeping nation all day. He sighed, going into the kitchen so he could try calling Germany on the phone again… Alas, still no answer…

'I'm alone again…'

**At the same time-in a different place…**

A private, uncharted flight landed at JFK Airport. It was a small plane only meant for a select group or perhaps just one politician and a few body guards. This was obviously a special flight. In this flight was a single Japanese man with a rolling suitcase in one hand and a cellphone in the other. He was talking to someone but you couldn't tell who he might've been talking to because of the stoic look on the man's face. There was nothing wrong with this man, he looked normal to the security guards watching him descend the stairs attached to the airplane. But he was obviously special if he took an uncharted flight to JFK.

On the way into the building he was given some basic security checks including walking through a metal detector and his rolling suitcase going through one as well. He didn't bring any liquids of any kind with him and seemed to know more about the airport security measures being taken than your average passenger. He got through no problem with his luggage and his phone, in which he called back his contact.

"Hai, I already made it through security. There should be a car waiting for me outside but I felt it was best that I called you first. You are the only one of us who ages normally Nikko Nikko-kun***."

"Well I appreciate you thinking about me Nihon-san. Being a nation was pretty… strange, to say the least." Nikko Nikko got up so his son couldn't overhear the conversation he was having. Covering the phone and looking at the toddler he said. "Papa's on an important phone call."

"Ne, Nikko Nikko-kun, daijoubu-desuka? You're not concerned about a plague?"

Uncovering the phone and trying to detach the toddler currently stuck to his leg, Nikko Nikko replied. "Not at the moment. No use worrying about it until we find out more about it. If I worry about it when there's no intelligence on it then my kids will get worried too."

"That's right, you're also the only one of us to have any offspring…"

"Well I admit it does kind of take a load off my back now that I'm no longer a nation like you Nihon-san. I can take care of my family and keep my job without having the same trouble you told me you used to have." Deciding that shoving the toddler away was futile, he sat the boy down on his lap so he could see for himself that his father was indeed busy. "I can raise a family without having to move all the time. I don't have to get sick whenever the economy is down either."

"Regardless, a plague is still a plague; and even if you were only a mirconation, you had children after you stopped being a nation and we don't know what might happen to you if you were to get sick since you age normally. You still are representing your own land in some form that not many of us can still comprehend."

"And you're investigating it for the sake of the land. I am aware. But I can't worry about it now. You should worry more about yourself Nihon-san… Anyway, I've got to go. It's about time I start preparing this little one's snack so he can go back to sleep."

"You do that then. I'll have to adjust to the time zone here myself. Oyasumi-nasai." He hung up, meeting the driver who was supposed to take him to his hotel and drove off to the same place the Germanic nations were booked for the next few days. Granted, a few of them had already returned to their respective countries but Japan could count on Germany, Switzerland and Liechtenstein being there. He wasn't sure if Prussia was staying there, but if he was he would've been mooching off of another nation also staying there and would probably start mooching off of the Japanese nation as soon as he made his presence known to the others.

When he got to his room he unpacked only what he needed for the moment, which wasn't much considering he came to his hotel straight from the airport. He only took out the 9 dollar water bottle half-full of water and a change of slippers. The door to his room still wide open, when a familiar face spotted him they couldn't help but say hello.

Knocking on the wall, Germany asked: "Japan, what are you doing here?"

"Oh, konichiwa Doitsu-san. I didn't know I'd see you here so soon." Japan, putting on his change of slippers and putting his loafers on a shoe-rack in the room, he greeted his friend in the traditional Japanese way of politely bowing at the appropriate level in front of the German man.

"May I come in?"

"Of course."

After closing the door Germany immediately got down to business, sitting in a desk chair while Japan sat on the edge of his bed. "I apologize for not meeting you sooner. I didn't know you were coming to America let alone the hotel I was staying at. Why did you come here?"

"I was told about Seychelles-chan naturally. American-san told me to be cautious but I thought it would be better if I came here personally to talk to him."

"If you came all the way out here just to talk to America, we haven't been able to reach him all day. I've called him a few times this morning but only got his voicemail. And I called his cellphone as well but I still got his voicemail. In addition it seems I've lost track of Italy."

"Italia-kun was with you?"

Realizing the Japanese man might take it the wrong way, the German attempted to correct himself. "He accidentally fell asleep here last night and had to sleep in between me und mein bruder." However this only seemed to make the Japanese man slightly uncomfortable, causing him to look away. So he attempted to explain further. "Either he went back home with his brother or he got lost somewhere."

The Japanese man could only think about how he hated himself for having to be so polite and sugar-coat things all in the name of manners. But the good thing about cross-cultural exchange was being able to break down what he thought were typical social norms. He composed himself. "Ah, sou? Italia-kun is currently missing? Have you called the police? His boss?"

"Well I had to leave here before he woke up because I needed to handle some business with Switzerland because Prussia screwed up. See, he only comes on these trips because he gets to site see and get room service. But since Liechtenstein was staying at this hotel as well they've been going out with one another without Switzerland knowing."

'I don't know what's going on, but I can't decide whether or not to ship this…' Japan thought, still looking as composed as usual. "So they've been going out together without his permission. I see."

"Ja, I suppose it's that neutrality thing… Anyway, Prussia screwed up and I had to get him out of trouble. Though I feel bad for kleiner Lichtenstein most of all, she's just a girl and still is rather young at heart. But she doesn't live in my house anymore so there's nothing I can do about it. I just hope she wasn't punished too badly."

"Italia-kun most likely saw that both you and your brother were nowhere to be found so he must've thought you abandoned him. This might have caused him to become lonely and run to someone else."

"Well, while that's a good assumption he's always the one running to me for help. When he can't pay for his imported electricity bills he always runs to my house for air conditioning*****! For him not to run to me for help is completely out of his character."

"Hence why I find it somewhat suspicious. He always goes to you first."

"I just hope he didn't catch anything… I've gotten a lot of phone calls, emails and reports from the other nations noting very strange behavior in some individuals as well as a disturbing report from Seychelles. The Seychelles we know is in a hospital in Canada right now, but the island itself has supposedly become an island of death. At least that's what I was told."

"I got a similar phone call from France-san. He told me England-san wasn't doing well. It must've been a lot to take in at once. They're still there but there's no gurantee when they'll come back to the states or even when they'll return to their homes."

"Ok, so from this point on, being out of character is serious business. Now, if you'll excuse me I need to call a certain Italian."

"Going to look for Italia-kun?"

"Well before that I'll call Romano to see if they're together. Und if not I'll have to look all over the state of New York just to find him."

Japan took out his cellphone, dialing a number rapidly and tapping the talk button so hard it would make you think he might've cracked or damaged the screen. Covering the speaker, he said with a smile "If want to call Romano-san please let me take care of it for you."

A few beeps later, someone finally picked up the phone.

"Pronto!"

"Ah, konichiwa Romano-san."

Meanwhile Romano was in his own hotel room. A quaint and frequently overlooked little place in Manhattan close to Little Italy and there had just so happened to be a Nintendo Wii in the room as well. A few of the other nations popped into the room every now and again as well. Estonia, who'd been site seeing and needed a quiet place to charge his electronics, The Netherlands who stuck around mainly to make sure the Southern Italian didn't pull any dirty mafia tricks on his sister and Greece, who mostly stopped by to sleep after walking around playing with stray cats for most of the day. But Belgium was the only one who stuck around, playing Mario Kart with Romano for hours on end. The Southern Italian and the Belgian had been racing with one another as Mario and Princess Daisy respectively almost all day long.

Out of the two brothers, Romano was the oldest but had an inferiority complex and abandonment issues, envious of his little brother who seemed happy, less intelligent at times, but still happy and popular among the other nations. Romano of course had his own social circle but the bad thing about history is that you couldn't rewrite it once it was written in stone slabs, on ancient pillars and in textbooks for all generations to read. It wasn't common for Romano to get phone calls from anyone except a handful of people he could count on 1 hand, Japan not being one of them. So he immediately assumed the reason he was being called was because something must've went wrong.

"So let me guess, my brother screwed up? Did you get into trouble with the mafia? Did my brother get into trouble with the mafia?" Romano listed off numerous scenerios, just waiting for Japan to say which one happened and tell them what they needed from him. Having dealt with Sicilian mobsters on multiple occasions, Romano was pretty much prepared for anything and was confident that he could handle any American mafia stunts by himself just as he always did back home.

However after the Japanese man explained why he was calling, the Italian's inferiority complex kicked him in the crotch…

"Oh, you want to know where Veneciano is… Stupid brother. Well why are you calling me instead of him?"

"I see I've already answered my own question…. But the reason I called was to see if he was with you at all…" Japan paused for a moment, trying to think of something to say that wouldn't offend Romano. "Besides, if he were to get into trouble with the yakuza I know you'd be able to handle it efficiently."

It seemed to work because Romano seemed to soften up a bit. "So did you call for anything else? Like is there any news on any new Mario games or Smash Bros?"

And immediately the conversation went from a potentially missing nation to conversations on the upcoming Smash Brothers game… However this seemed to annoy the German, who had been waiting for more news on the missing Italian and was now hearing nothing but Smash Bros news.

"JAPAN, DID YOU FORGET WHAT YOU ORIGINALLY CALLED HIM FOR?!"

And so Japan quickly snapped out of it. "Ah… Gomene Romano-san… I have to go… Sayonara…" He hung up, bowing out of respect to his German friend. "Gomenasai Doitsu-san. Demo, Romano-san is the only one I can talk about Mario games to… Nintendo head quarters is at my place after all so when he asks for news related to Mario or Smash Bros…"

"It's fine, but if Italy's not with his brother, we'll have to go look for him."

"Right…" But as soon as Germany left the room, he texted Romano:

Please be patient. Super Smash Bros for WiiU will have a large roster and Doctor Mario is still a playable character. But aside from Smash Bros, I thought I'd let you know that Bayonetta 2's development is also going well. Since it's a WiiU exclusive we'll be doing some other special things both prior and upon release. ^_^ I hope you're looking forward to it as much as I am Romano-san.

**Translation time! Come on grab your friends!**

**Siesta (Italian/Spanish) – Nap**

**Daijoubu-desuka (Japanese) – Are you alright? (the desuka is just a formality)**

**Oyasumi-nasai (Japanese) – Good night (the nasai is a formality)**

**Dankeschon (German) – Thank you**

**Und (German) – And**

**Mein bruder****(German) – My brother**

**Reference time! Come on grab your friends!**

**Silly reference out of the way first: **That curl on the left side of Italy's head is an erogenous zone. Fans have theorized maybe it represents the economy because an economy and an erogenous zone can both be stimulated. The origin of the curl is that the author drew it last minute in an attempt to make the character look cute. There are manga strips where Germany is tugging on Italy's curl, having no idea it's an erogenous zone, and one of these strips has Japan saying "please touch him more gently" followed by a thought bubble saying "I wish I didn't have to sugar coat what I say"… Yaoi FTW! The only other character this applies to is Romano, Italy's older brother whose curl is also an erogenous zone. It's unknown if characters with ahoges also suffer this way. I'm assuming the ones with ahoges don't apply to this rule, I used to, but not anymore.**

***Nantucket – If you've seen character designs for America you might notice one ahoge or a piece of hair that's standing up above the rest. A lot of Hetalia characters have hair pieces or strands of hair to represent certain landmarks like rivers or towns maybe small islands. The ahoge America has represents Nantucket. In another story by Hidekaz Himaruya takes place in Nantucket but apparently no other Wikipedia articles on any of his other works seem to exist right now.**

*****Nikko Nikko Republic – I don't know much about this micronation. I was introduced to him through the 2013 Halloween Event when Sealand and Ladonia are calling him over the phone. And at first this character looked like Japan. After a little bit of research I learned this character was Nikko Nikko Republic. Who is the only character in the series we've seen become a nation. He started out as a human but noticed that he stopped aging gradually. HOWEVER THERE IS A TWIST. He's no longer a nation. However he still represents the micronation when it existed… So this adds a new twist on what we've previously theorized about the nations and the characters who are implied to have died in the past (like Grandpa Rome and Holy Rome). Since he still represents the mirconation but is technically no longer a nation, he ages normally, has a normal job and even has children. He lives like a normal human BUT STILL REPRESENTS NIKKO NIKKO REPUBLIC. So this changes up some stuff about these series: can humans become essentially immortal nations? What happens if a nation falls? And Nikko Nikko was rather young upon becoming a nation (correct me if I'm wrong, but I will read that strip again to make sure). SO what would it mean if a nation as old as Italy or even China (who is 4,000 years old) were to lose their status? Would all of that time catch up to them and would they die? Or would they age like a normal human? SO MANY POSSIBILITIES!**

*******This is what I read in Hidekaz Himaruya's new Hetalia spin-off called World Star, it's a manga that's been updated every Monday and Friday last year. I'm not sure if he'll continue it in 2015 the last chapter he wrote was around X-mas or New Years. World Star has 2 story lines: one with Emperor Nero and one with Italy and Germany. The latter seems a lot more like a sitcom if you ask me but you do learn some facts as always. It's still cute to see them do stuff other than attend world meetings even if the stuff they're doing is kind of domesticated. The part of World Star I'm referring to is one chapter where Italy comes to Germany's house unannounced because he can't pay his electric bill. And there was also text saying that because the electricity in Italy was imported, it's expensive.**


	8. Chapter 8

**I'm trying to make up for all the time I haven't updated by posting these chapters in bulk. I originally wanted to make this story 10-15 chapters long, but that's not going to happen after all... You guys also requested that some other characters make an appearance and since you guys are so nice and cuz I'm an author who loves the fanbase, I shall grant you a few wishes here and there so long as they are in my power.**

**The holidays and some more bumps in the road of Home Instruction kept me especially busy the past 3 or 4 months thanks to a crappy new hours system and supervisors doing random check-ins like Nazi soldiers on civilians in WW2… I even missed New Years ;_; I couldn't even finish the yaoi bloodbath! I told myself that one lucky X-mas I would finish it but nu-uh, BUSY, BUSY, BUSY, UNIVERSE LOVES TO KEEP KSKC BUSY! In addition, my grandmother's health has been fluxating similar to my sanity so this week I've been worrying a lot about that, on top of having a bad cold. And though this may sound like I'm making excuses, sadly this is all true. But I don't want to turn into Junko Enoshima and drag you into my despair… So let's just enjoy the fanfic. **

**There's also a bit of Ameita and RomaBel in this chapter. I've never shipped Romano with a lady before… So be kind…**

**All Heil the Worm**

Romano and Belgium were finished playing Mario Kart after playing as Mario and Daisy for hours on end. They sat on the couch lazily with Belgium looking at movies on Netflix they might be able to watch and Romano texting Japan back and forth about Nintendo games to be released. They were rather lazy, greeting everyone who came in and out of the room only to act like uninterested teenagers obsessed with their technology.

Estonia was charging his computer and mooching off the wi-fi, the mochi next to Estonia were eating plenty of leafy greens, Latvia was listening to the radio on his smart phone while resting in a recliner, Greece just left to search for more stray cats in New York and Netherlands was sleeping on the bed because it was just that silent… The room was the equivalent of an empty Barnes and Noble café when the store was nearly empty or when all the kids and their parents were in the kids section for story time.

The silence was so heavy that only Romano's laughter after receiving a text from Japan managed to break it. And it was the kind of laughter you couldn't even breathe during the middle of it.

Belgium looked at the Italian with curiosity, about to show him the movie she thought they'd both enjoy when he broke the silence. "Something funny?"

"I… It's not-." Romano cleared his throat and calmed down a bit. "Heh… Nothing much… Just an inside joke."

"Hm~ So I found this one movie~."

"Finally found something to watch?" Romano turned off his phone. "It might have to wait a bit longer though. Japan and the Potato Bastard aren't having any luck calling that brother of mine. He's probably causing trouble for someone else." He grabbed his coat from the coat rack next to the door.

"You decide to look for little Veneciano right now after I went through the trouble of firing up Netflix and looking for a movie we could both watch and understand?!" Belgium pouted playfully, not truly offended but definitely feeling like her efforts were wasted. "Well I guess getting some fresh air will be a nice change of pace. We've been inside almost all day."

"Well there's that… And if even Potato Brains can't find him something must really be wrong. I'll have to call all the families in New York to find him at this rate!" And so after he put on his coat, his scarf and a classy fedora he exited his hotel room and started calling a few of the infamous crime families of New York.

First Gambino…

The Columbo…

Then the deceased Grim Reaper's* family…

He spoke completely in Italian so no one could passing by could immediately understand him. Spanish and Italian were different enough after all. But after calling all the families he knew he sighed and knew he had to look for his brother himself.

"No luck with your connections?" Belgium appeared next to him in her coat, earmuffs and scarf.

Romano smiled gently. "Not a one!"

She giggled a bit, grabbing Romano's arm is a friendly manner. "Then you'll have to become Mario and save your brother Luigi! And I'll become Princess Daisy to help you out!"

"You know that Peach is Mario's girlfriend, right?"

"Daisy was his girlfriend or at least a possible love interest for one game…" Belgium pointed out. "EITHER WAY we do need to find little Veneciano~."

"I'll stop by America's. We hang out every now and again. You know, what with the mafia and all. Though he's not all that bad at Mario Kart either. Once this blows over, maybe we could compete with 4 players."

"Sounds good, but we can't play a round with 4 players if we don't find Veneciano."

"Right…"

They went arm in arm through New York's subway system and after asking the occasional New Yorker or tourist which train lead to where they'd finally made it to Park Slope, getting off at a stop a few blocks farther than the American's current apartment. At this particular top was a resturaunt with a few benches outside, which the Belgian woman immediately ran to finally sit down after standing in the trains for so long.

Romano sat down next to her. "You're that tired?"

"That train was so packed, how could I not be tired?! I kept getting swept away when everyone exited or entered the train!"

"Yeah, those bars above your head don't do much to actually keep you stable or safe… There were no seats either so we had no choice but to stand up or wait for another, less packed train. Though we did just come from Manhattan, there's never a day when the trains aren't busy unless they're running on a holiday schedule, in which they'll either be moderately busy or packed beyond capacity!"

Belgium giggled a bit at this knowledge. "I guess you've come to New York quite a lot then!"

"You learn a lot from watching tourists. You can ask pretty much anyone for directions in the subway too, everyone seems to know. That's how I ended up learning."

The Belgian woman leaned on his shoulder innocently, cat-like smile looking rather mischievous than normal. "I'm surprised my big brother didn't complain when we were walking out the door."

When Romano thought about it, he didn't hear one peep from Netherlands, let alone a 'no'. Though with this realization, his face turned red like a green tomato starting to ripen. "Yeah… Come to think about it he was either knocked out cold or actually OK with me taking you out!"

"It's been many centuries since you were a kid. But I think no matter what culture you're from, the men always worry about the women in some way, shape or form. Husbands worry about their wives being picked up by strangers or preditors, fathers worry about their daughters meeting men that want to hurt them, brothers who are forced by their parents to watch their sisters regardless of their relationship. In a way I think it's natural, but then again, I am older than you…"

"You are still his YOUNGER sister though so regardless of my age. So he would still see me as a threat." Memories of his childhood started coming back, causing him to blush even further. He cursed himself under his breath for remembering such things at such an ideal pairing-type moment. He was tempted to make a move for the sake of trying to win over his childhood crush though he also wondered how Spain would react and if trying to win back the childhood crush you had was worth it so many centuries later.

In addition, both back then and in present day he had no idea how Belgium actually felt about him… When Romano texted Japan about this whole childhood crush thing, Japan had described her as a 'sisterly senpai character' and there were characters in dating sims similar to her… Though they weren't exactly his type so he had no advice to offer outside of the 'correct' answers to get those kinds of characters' routes. Thinking back to that though, Romano still didn't know if entertaining Belgium's mischievousness would pay off and trying to play it cool wasn't working thus far. The whole 'sexy mobster' air was totally gone at this point, being replaced with a shy Italian guy from the south who still had his V-card after all these years… He gulped…

"So… Yeah…" He said, having found nothing else to say and still having to find his own younger sibling. "Do you have enough energy to keep going?"

She nodded. "It's just too bad people don't eat waffles in America like they do at my place. Otherwise we could've eaten some during this intermission."

"As long as you're alright, your brother won't kill me for taking you out."

She sighed, playfully hugging the Italian while they were still seated on the bench. "Thank you for taking such good care of me."

Romano still managed to blush. Though thankfully trying to find something to break the tension was a little easier this time because of the giant cow statue a few feet away from the bench. PERFECT! Something as ridiculous as that in any of the 5 burrows was a tourist trap! Perfect to break the tension and perfect for proving to any concerned relatives that you were a gentleman who'd throw away his own dignity to take a picture of or with the girl you were taking out. Not to mention that said photo could double as both evidence (if they accused you of anything) and a sweet reminder of the date-like moment you briefly shared.

"Hey, you wanna play up the whole tourist act and take as many pictures as possible?" He pointed at the huge statue and the few people taking pictures of it already.

Taking pictures of cow statues seemed to be the perfect (and weirdest) ice breaker so far, the Belgian woman getting up from the bench and dragging the Italian with her to kindly ask someone to take their picture. And a few failed attempts later, they finally ended up with a photo that didn't annoy either of them…

Meanwhile…

Having nothing else better to do while America slept, Italy had spent his time in the apartment, border than he'd ever been. He felt lonely despite the American keeping him company and the fact he was sleeping wasn't helping him cure his loneliness either. He turned off his phone out of sheer loneliness because none of his other friends had called him earlier, thinking that if he shut them out instead by turning off his phone it would make him feel the slightest bit better. However he couldn't be more wrong. While the American slept, he'd been pacing around the house trying to find something to do, occasionally watching over the American like the killer in a giallo** film stalking their next victim.

'It's been a long time since I watched a horror movie…'

He tried to keep his hands to himself and avoid getting America mad by waking him up in some way shape or form. He thought that watching a movie might not be a bad idea. It would stave off the boredom and the American was friendly enough, so he assumed just using his blue-ray or DVD player wouldn't be a big deal. He looked at the well-kept entertainment center the American had in his living room, closing the blinds and curtains as if he were going to watch a porno instead of a horror movie. The TV looked new but also like it was barely being used, the cable box looked as dusty as ever. Somewhat of an odd but understandable contradiction seeing that cable cutting was a popular trend. And while America most definitely had Netflix but Italy didn't want to be too much of a moocher.

He looked at the DVD shelf that was conveniently labeled 'horror movies' and tried to find a gory title to enjoy and if not a gory title, a mind-screwy murder mystery would work too. He looked at all of the horror films in the American's collection and to his surprise he had a rather international collection. Sure some of them were just British or American remakes of other nations' films, some were simply dubs, others completely unintentional rip-offs, others blatant rip-offs and a few remakes and sequels here and there.

He found a few titles he was familiar with: Case of the Bloody Iris, Lisa and the Devil (as well as it's House of Exorcism remake which flopped at the box office), Bay of Blood. Not particularly gory films, but definitely mind-screwy. He came across Blood and Black Lace, taking it off the shelf and looking at the cover. He decided today wasn't a day to watch it and put it back. He sighed, thinking this would be useless.

"You know… If you wanna watch a movie…" The American yawned. "You could do whatever you want. I'm just not sure if I'd have anything you're interested in."

"You're awake…"

"Hey, I got some sleep didn't I?" The American got up, walking to the Italian and hugging him from behind. "I got some of my energy back thanks to you."

"A-America… It's fine. You were tired, I convinced you to take a nap. It's fine. It's not big deal." Italy still couldn't help but think about Germany. He couldn't help but feel abandoned and isolated all day today. So lonely, so tired of failed attempts to contact others… It didn't help the feeling of isolation. He turned around, hugging the American face to face. "At least you appreciate me."

America however noticed Italy was acting out of character. "Hey… Are you gonna be ok? You seem more upset than usual."

"I'm fine. I just don't want to be alone is all."

"Has anyone been bullying you?"

Italy didn't respond, hugging America even tighter.

"Ya know, if you don't answer me I can't help you. Of course if it's too much of a sensitive issue, you can tell me whenever you're ready. I won't put any pressure on you cuz I'm the hero after all!" America tried to be his usual self despite the situation and the fact he was still a bit tired. "If ya don't cheer up, I'm gonna take revenge for you pulling Nantucket earlier!"

"Huh? Reven-?!" Before he could finish, Italy felt his curl being pulled ever so slightly. The act of tugging on that hair no matter how hard or gentle got a _certain reaction_ out of him regardless of who was pulling it or for what reason. The side effects were immediate: heavy blushing, panting and squirming in near-orgasm bliss. "No… Stop… Picere!"

Seeing the Italian blush so heavily and squirm, America stopped, realizing that tugging on that one strand of hair wasn't the best idea for revenge after all. He blushed a bit. "Sorry, I didn't expect that much of a reaction…" He backed away, embarrassed by what he's done and feeling somewhat bad for putting the Italian through that sort of torture. He couldn't help but wonder if pulling that hair and turning him on so much was a form of rape and began to feel even more guilty than before. He panicked, being unable to form words. "I ugh, ah, uuuuuuugh… Sooooo… N-N-No charges are gonna be pressed, are there?"

No response from the Italian, just a few tears forming in the tear ducts and scratching his scalp, avoiding the curl.

'Shit this is bad… I didn't think I'd get that bad of a reaction! I MEAN SURE IT'S AN EROGENOUS ZONE BUT NOT EVERYONE'S NAUGHTY BITS ARE THAT SENSITIVE! I JUST TUGGED ON IT CUZ HE MESSED WITH NANTUCKET EARLIER! ALL I EXPECTED WAS A GIGGLE OR A FRIGGIN CHUCKLE! I DIDN'T EXPECT SOMETHING OUT OF ONE OF JAPAN'S HENTAI DOUJINSHIS! WHAT THE FUCK?! SO DOES GETTING THIS KIND OF REACTION COUNT AS RAPE? HEROES DON'T RAPE PEOPLE! God I might end up in jail…'

He still panicked, hoping for the Italian to say something, ANYTHING to let him know he was fine. He looked all around the room, trying to find something he could use to either break the tension or calm down the Italian, still blushing heavily and teary-eyed.

"I-I'm okay now… I think…" Italy replied. "Please just don't do that again…"

"So you forgive me?"

Italy managed to smile. "It's just a hair, though I'm not sure why a single hair of all things is an erogenous zone… It's been like this for as long as I can remember." He took the American's hand as a way to reassure him that he was perfectly fine. "But don't do that again… I've been alone all day today and in the face of a possible plague too. I want to be around people I can trust. I'm weak so I need to be around people who are strong."

It occurred to America that Italy had to go home or back to his hotel at some point. "When do you intend to leave exactly? To your house I mean…"

"Not sure. The past 24 hours haven't exactly been the most reassuring after all. I'll probably stay here for at least a few more days or if my brother feels like leaving so-."

"Wait, does Romano know you're even here?" America asked, knowing that if Romano thought anything bad was going on, he could easily have the mafia called in to teach him a lesson. After all, he had been attacked by a few mobsters here and there in the past when the mafia activity in New York and Long Island was severe, and those were just a few soldiers that Romano didn't call in. "PLEASE TELL ME HE KNOWS SO I WON'T GET IN TROUBLE! I DO NOT WANT TO GET SHOT IN THE HEAD AGAIN!"

"Don't worry, I'm sure he thinks you're a nice guy! Besides, it seems like it's Germany he hates the most!" Those words however seemed to hurt the fragile Italian more. "And… Germany completely abandoned me today…"

America couldn't help but feel a mix of guilty and bad for the guy now, not knowing what else to do except tell him that he wasn't alone anymore. "If you ever do feel lonely though, I can always use your help. You said it yourself: Heroes need allies. And if Germany is being a dick-wad to you then you can just hang out with me and we can drink coffee and watch horror movies together. Hell maybe we can invite Japan over and make an event of it. Does that sound alright with you?"

Italy nodded. "Grazie… I'll do my best sir!"

**Chapter end! And I seem to have unintentionally wrote yaoi toward the end there!**

**If you found America being a little bit weird in this chapter, I kind of put my own unique something into his character. Living in America, I know first-hand we don't have the best sex education. In fact we have very conflicting views on sex in America. Some of the time we're like: 'SEX IS POWER, EVERYONE SHOULD BE ABLE TO EXPRESS THEIR SEXUALITY WITHOUT FEELING SHAME AND WE SHOULD ALL PRACTICE SAFE SEX! SEX ED FOR ALL!'. And the next minute we'll be like: 'SEX IS BAD, SHIELD THE EYES OF THE CHILDREN! SEX IS BAD, NO ONE SHOULD HAVE SEX, BABIES COME FROM STORKS!'. And then there's the religious angle: 'IF YOU HAVE SEX, YOU ARE A WHORE, A SLUT, YOU'LL GET EVERY DISEASE IMAGINABLE IF YOU HAVE SEX IN ANY POSITION WITH A MAN OR WOMAN! WAIT UNTIL MARRIAGE, ABSTINENCE-ONLY EDUCATION! ABORTION IS EVIL TOO!'. Then there are the mixed views on rape and abortion which I shall not comment on… With or without religion involved, I feel my country is very two-faced when it comes to sex. Only a number of states require medically accurate information, there are some states that have abstinence-only education, abortion is still a hot-button topic here and we have almost a rape-culture it seems, which is a real shame. Although I gave American-tan a bit of a weird attitude toward sex based on what I've experienced having grown up in America, I am portraying him pretty innocently and more confused and conflicted than anything.**

**Now for some stuff you might be confused by! Astrix time~!**

***The Grim Reaper – A.K.A. Greg Scarpa. This guy was essentially a rat for the FBI who played the crime families against each other and got away with a lot of crime and murder. He was eventually taken to court and his crimes caught up to him, being deemed unconstitutional despite him being connected with the FBI. He was placed on house arrest by request of his loving family, though escaped and came back with a bullet having gone through his nose… He went to jail because he defied his house arrest and died almost immediately after due to H.I.V. aid which he contracted via a tainted blood transfusion.**

****Giallo is a specific genre of film. Traditionally the term 'giallo film' was only reserved for these types of films made in only in Italy, but nowadays if it's giallo, no matter where it comes from, the term can be used. If you remember the season 5 episode about the nations discussing horror movies, you may remember Italy saying he loved horror movies with lots of guts and entrails. It was likely a reference to the giallo genre. The giallo movement was initially inspired by pulp fiction mystery novels from the late 1920's entitled 'Il Giallo Mondadori' or 'Mondadori Yellow' which got their namesake from their publisher Arnoldo Mondadori. They became so popular that these books were then simply reffered to as 'Giallo', the Italian word for 'yellow' as well as a reference to the color of the covers of the books. 'Ossessione' or 'The Postman Always Rings Twice' was the first giallo novel to be adapted to film in 1943, the film doesn't have the violence and surrealism that would later become hallmarks of the giallo genre. Krimi (German crime films of the 1960s) were a heavy influence on the Italian giallo films to come. You might notice that giallo films have the same occurring themes and trademarks such as: 1. The main character has witnessed a crime (typically a murder). 2. The main character isn't believed by the police when they are told about the crime. 3. The villain is always fashionable, often wearing black leather gloves, a coat, a hat and/or mask of some sort to hide their face. 4. The villain is always left a mystery until the end. 5. There's always some amount of blood in the film ranging from normal injuries or slaughter-house levels of blood. 6. Heavy sexual overtones, nudity, sex scenes or themes about sex overall is no actual sex is shown in the film. And 7. Themes of surrealism and sanity, making you wonder if the main character is insane, if the criminal is sane or if something is wrong with the character's mental states. **


	9. Chapter 9

**HOLY CRAP SO MUCH STUFF HAPPENED!**

**Thankfully the update gap isn't as big as the one Skullgirls fanfic I have that literally took me almost half a year to get around to updating, but this year hasn't been my year at all. The last update (before this one) was around April. From that month on, my life turned to crap.**

**In May, our wonderful matriarch of the family had passed away (peacefully and without pain thankfully). So much of May was spent in mourning and worrying if Home Instruction would've been ok with me taking a week off so my family could deal with the unfortunate event (thankfully though, Home Instruction granted me the week off and that absence was excused).**

**In June, I continued what little Home Instruction classes I had left that year, but still had to worry about the hours system. I also celebrated my birthday unfortunately without my grandmother... I didn't get very many gifts and only 1 friend came to my so called 'party', but I'm honored anyone showed up at all and I had a good time bonding with this person.**

**In July I willingly enrolled in what Home Instruction calls the P.I.D Program (Promotion in Doubt). It lasted through August. The main reason for this was wanting to get more credits and wanting to knock out the math regents over the summer (and honestly I don't think I passed).**

**So this chapter/update has been in the works for quite a while…**

**I'm also gonna try and cover all of the subplots we developed thus far and after this will be a time skip because Plague Inc. doesn't take place all in 1 day… And I admit I've been dragging these first few days out a bit too long. I also forgot to mention the whole story began in March 2014, around the time I played Plague Inc. for the first time! I'll have to go back and update the first chapter to mention that small fact. In case you need a recap, the subplots we have so far involve: Liechtenstein sneaking out with Prussia, Canada having to take care of Seychelles in a hospital, Finland going bat shit insane and poor Sealand and Hanatamago having to fend for themselves, England and France on the island of Seychelles, Romano and Belgium looking for Italy, Ameita pairing spam, as well as Germany and Japan looking for Italy…**

**This is gonna be great!**

Italy and America stood in the apartment, sharing some awkward tension. The American felt like this was something out of a dating sim and didn't know what to do at the moment. How did the Italian currently feel about him and how did he interpret the interactions that they shared today? Was this leading into some weird romance subplot or were they the best of friends now? And would he be expected to take responsibility for tugging on the Italian's hair as if he'd just gotten someone pregnant? He wasn't sure…

"Um… Mister America…" The Italian let out in a shy tone of voice. "What will we do now?"

Immediately the American was overcome with emotions of confusion. Being essentially immortal, having relationships with normal people was difficult because they always got injured easily and could die at a moments' notice. But even dating or having a relationship with another nation (also essentially immortal) had some connotations to it, making it even more difficult without the fear of them being here one day and gone the next. But if Italy was being bullied, if he had really been abandoned then that only fueled the hero-instinct within him though in this particular case he didn't know how to react to it.

This was that moment in a dating sim where you were forced to make a choice but in this case the options were all left blank, the buttons without text and a shy-looking character portrait of Italy in the background.

"Ugh… I guess… I don't know, I'll be fine with doing anything you wanna do." The words came out awkwardly, but the Italian looked chipper than before.

"If I may… I want to do something different. But first you have to close your eyes!"

"Um… OKAY? What are you gonna do?"

"I can't tell you, that's why I'm asking you to close your eyes. I'm… Shy… That's all it is."

'Holy shit, I've read about this, seen this on TV, in movies and in anime. What the fuck did I get myself into? LAST TIME I CHECKED I WASN'T WRITTEN INTO SOME YAOI FANFICTION BY SOME AMERICAN YAOI FANGIRL OR SOME JAPANESE AUTHOR-DUDE! SO WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?!' American audibly gulped out of anxiety. Homosexuality has always been a hot-button topic and few states actually allowed gay couples to get married, elsewhere they would be forced to get married in Canada first or go to a state where gay marriage was perfectly legal.

"Ugh… Italy? Aren't you and… You know… On top of that, how would Romano react to this?"

"I don't care about that right now. Besides, no one has called me or come to get me. Who even knows if they remember me now~? It's just you and me now. That's all I care about. Honestly…"

"Don't talk like that. Italy, this isn't like you at all. Why are you suddenly so negative?"

He could tell the Italian was starting to act out of his usual character. The usually happy-go-lucky, somewhat naïve but friendly pasta-loving Italian was being replaced by this shy, lonely and almost desperate man who felt utterly abandoned.

"Italy, you know if you need help we can talk about this! This isn't like you at all. Why are you so different? We are allies right?"

"Ameri-."

"YOU SAID IT YOURSELF! I JUST WANNA HELP YOU!" Grabbing the Italian by the shoulders and shaking him back and forth, he shouted even more. "QUIT ACTING SO OUT OF CHARACTER THIS ISN'T LIKE YOU AT ALL! I'M SCARED ENOUGH AS IT IS!"

The Italian snapped out of it, escaping the younger man's grip. "AMERICA STOP IT! Don't man-handle me! You're not the only one who's afraid! For as long as I can remember I've always had people looking out for me, I always had someone to hide behind! But for some reason, it's only now that I feel totally abandoned… I have no idea why."

"THEN WHY WON'T YOU LET ME PROTECT YOU?! WHY ARE YOU ACTING LIKE THIS WHEN I'M OFFERING MY HELP?!"

"BECAUSE IT'S NOT JUST THE DAMN PLAGUE I'M AFRAID OF!"

In a moment of silence, America replayed what Italy just said in his mind. He never swore… That was always Romano's thing… But before shouting anymore he took a breath. 'Ok. Calm down. We're both vulnerable. Maybe part of me is freaking out more about how gay things were getting before. Maybe he's lonelier than I thought, that or he has some serious abandonment issues… He's the only one whose helped me out with this plague stuff since Canada went back home with Seychelles too. I should go easy on him but if he's gonna argue with me he'll be toxic to be around. If he's seriously that lonely though, it won't be very hero-like of me if I kicked him home even with this sudden mood-swing…' He cleared his throat before continuing.

"Italy… You're afraid of losing your friends aren't you?"

More silence…

"Give me your phone."

"What?"

"Give me your phone. I need to call a certain someone and give them a good lecture."

Meanwhile…

After taking a train all the way to the correct neighborhood, a frustrated German and a calm Japanese man walked side by side in heavy winter coats and business suits. Seeing the two of these men contrast so greatly with one another would make it hard for the average passerby to believe they were close friends. And currently the two friends were on a mission.

"Japan, are you sure this is the right neighborhood?" Germany asked, taking his smart phone out to double-check with Google Maps. "Und what house are we supposed to go to?"

"Hai. I'm positive this is the correct neighborhood. The house shouldn't be much further. It's a red building, American flag in one of the windows." Holding a small digital camera in his hands, he looked through the photos of New York he'd taken since going to look for Italy with Germany's help.

"You know, you shouldn't take pictures while crossing the street. You come to America more often than I do, you should know the traffic and drivers are insane!"

"Gomen. Though I can't help but be surprised by the amount of cherry blossoms here either. Besides, it's not like I take pictures exclusively of America-san!"

"Ja, ja… So are we getting closer?"

"Hai. Please don't worry so much Doitsu-san."

The German began walking faster in the direction of the apartment, following the map provided on his smart phone screen. He walked fast enough to leave the short Japanese man behind and was the first one to get to America's apartment. As soon as he was at the door however, his phone began to ring.

The 8-bit version of Ramstein's 'Pussy' played and a hamburger icon showed up on the screen. America… He picked up.

"What do you want?"

"Look asshole, we need to talk." The American spat. "You're the reason why Italy's been so damn out of character! You starting to harass other countries again? Trying to repeat history? Look, if you wanna pick on people you're gonna have to go through me first."

"Don't you dare mention what I think you're about to mention… That Nazi bastard has been long dead… I've long repented for that monster's actions." Germany tried not to snap over the phone, but anything related to Hitler or the days of the Nazi Party pissed him off to no end. And though it was already 2014, he was still viewed as the sole one responsible for World War 2**. "Don't mention that again."

America simply stood silent.

'You're still a child. What in the world would you know about warfare and depression?' Germany wanted to say, but kept inside. "Never mind that schißen. You know where Italia is, ja?"

"He's been with me all day. Guess you could say I kept him hostage." America snickered. "Though unlike back then, he's a lot easier to take care of… He hasn't caused me any trouble at all." He continued, looking back at the Italian who was sitting nervously on the couch behind him to assure him he was telling Germany the truth.

"I'm downstairs. Open the door so I can talk some sense into him."

"NOW HOLD ON. YOU'RE THE REASON HE'S BEEN SO UPSET. YOU'RE BULLYING HIM SO YOU NEED TO APOLOGIZE!"

"Well I can't apologize to anyone unless I can get into the building. Open the door."

America hung up but didn't take one step out of his apartment, frustrating the German man who stood waiting at the door down below.

"Damn him…" Germany, out of pure frustration began ringing the doorbell. He kept pressing the button, even holding down the button for 30 seconds but no response.

"Matte-kudasai, Doitsu-san!" Before he knew it, a tired Japanese man with a camera and set of keys in his hand. "You left me behind…"

"I'm sorry. Damn idiot won't open the door." He smacked his head against the wood door, the Japanese man pulling his arm back with his free hand.

"Doitsu-san…" Japan said nothing, opening the door with the key America gave him and guided the German man in. "Please don't think too harshly of me, but you need to regain your composure. You can't work when you're this stressed out."

He didn't get a reply, only heard the German man cursing quietly in a language he didn't understand.

…

"Ve~ I don't want him here! You have to hide me!" Italy clung to America, not wanting to see Germany at all. The American hugged him, knowing he was nervous and in a bad mood.

"It's fine. You heard what I told him over the phone. I'll make him apologize."

"And… You told him I was your hostage…"

"Yeah… Sorry, I'm not sure where that came from." America rubbed his fingers through the Italian's hair, avoiding the curl as best as possible. "But yeah… I remember back then. I'm sorry I treated you so badly. I stuffed you into a box and sent you back to Germany. Granted that was over 70 years ago now, but I still feel pretty bad for it when I look back on it…"

"It's fine. I'm used to being pushed around… I've always been weak… Even when I was at my most powerful…"

They decided not to talk about it anymore, suddenly hearing angry footsteps coming from the hallway and angry muttering in a mix of German and Japanese. America figured Japan just let Germany in, but that wasn't helping the Italian's anxiety or feeling of hopelessness. Instead of waiting for them the burst through the door and drag their friend back however, America opened the door himself and met them halfway.

"I didn't think you'd be this desperate…"

"Ah. Gomenasai America-san…" Japan apologized ahead of time, watching the German man climb up the stairs faster and attempt to rush his way into the apartment only to be stopped.

"I don't want any domestic disputes here! This is my apartment, I make the rules!"

"Enough of this Blitzkrieg!" Pushing the American out of his way, Germany rushed inside the apartment where Italy was waiting, quiet and demure wearing a yielding expression.

"I see you came for me…" The Italian said quietly.

"Und you've been missing all day! I was considering calling the National Guard to locate you! You never bothered to contact me or leave a note telling me where you were! You were worrying everyone!"

"You never answered my calls or picked up your phone, so what's the point?! On top of that, you abandoned me!"

"What do you mean 'what's the point?!' We're going back immediately!" The German grabbed the Italian's wrist roughly and pulled him with enough force to make him tip as they made their way toward the door.

In this case the Japanese man would've said something, but this was getting much more violent then he could've imagined. Though his heightened anxiety was remedied somewhat when the American took the Italian back.

"You bastard. I TRY TO SETTLE THINGS LIKE DIPLOMATS AND YOU GO BACK TO BEHAVING LIKE A NAZI?! NO WONDER HE DOESN'T WANNA GO BACK! YOU'RE GOING BACK TO YOUR OLD ROOTS, AREN'T YOU?!"

"HOLD YOU TOUNGE OR I'LL RIP IT OUT FOR YOU! DON'T YOU DARE MENTION THAT SHIT STAIN AGAIN!"

"Heh… You're just lucky your favorite furhur didn't die like this one's old boss back then…" America smirked. He could see he was aggravating Germany and while he had tried to handle this 'hostage exchange' diplomatically, he felt he had to resort to violence because of the violence he'd received from the other party. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Hamarabi's Code. "I'm already going through enough crap with all my presidents going to the Middle East. I don't need a war with the rest of Europe right now. That's why I tried to settle this like adults, but if you're gonna harass other nations just like back then, I won't drag any of my citizens into this. I'll just fight you in our current forms. I don't need another war…"

The Italian seemed afraid to speak, Japan observed. The atmosphere seemed to be calming down somewhat. Naturally America had a point. There was no need to cause World War 3 over Italy. Besides, one of the UN's rules since it's inception was no colonies no longer, so neither party could take custody of the Italian in that regard. Though the reason why there were so many emotions in this particular situation seemed to be something more human, unrelated to politics, history or national diplomacy.

It was friendship and fear mixed into one…

Immortal until otherwise fallen, friendship was a rather rare occurrence. Alliances, treaties and war were more familiar than a normal to them than the average human definition of friendship. To their kind, the word took on more of a special meaning that might not even be comprehended by a normal human… a mere mortal…

The small war before him seemed to come to a close as he witnessed America and Germany talking more like gentlemen than enemies on a battlefield. He felt relief that a conflict could be avoided, but felt pity for the Italian most of all, who he knew he couldn't help due to the sense of order engraved in his subconscious.

Everything must be done with politeness and consideration.

Everything must be orderly and performed on time.

Every offence must be atoned for.

Every social interaction must be appropriate for the atmosphere, situation and go in accordance to your relationship with the other person.

Don't carry samurai swords around in public.

As such, his social programming seemed to always prevent him from getting too personal even among his own friends.

However at that moment, he remembered another Italian he should probably contact at that moment…

"Excuse me, I'm sorry… I realized that I have an important call to make." He said as polite as always with a neutral expression.

Germany sighed. "You're not going to spend hours talking with Romano on the phone about Nintendo, are you?"

Italy now seemed concerned about his brother, who must've either spent the day with Belgium playing games or looking for him perhaps along with Netherlands… Though he wasn't even aware Japan had Romano's number… "You talked to Romano?"

"Hai. Romano-san is likely searching for you at the moment… I told him I would call him should Doitsu-san and I find you first."

The Italian lit up slightly, hoping things were going well for his older brother. Hoping that he wasn't too worried, not beating anyone up while trying to locate him, not letting anyone else hit on Belgium or letting someone get away with stealing her waffles… That was the first thing he'd ask him about…

"By all means, please call him. I should probably apologize… See how he's doing…" He said, telling his Japanese friend to put Romano on speaker phone should he pick up at all. And with ease, Japan did so…

Unbeknownst to that particular party however, Romano and Belgium were acting like full-on tourist, looking around 5th avenue to see if they could buy any souveniers. Currently they were in a rather unique store that sold all sorts of military merchandise and memorabilia in addition to some camping and survivalist gear. Thankfully the store didn't just sell samurai swords, knives and switchblades, but also sold jewelry to impress the ladies…

Romano felt himself going into full mobster-mode, the shy guy side of him having melted away once he had gotten more comfortable around Belgium, who'd been looking at the various necklaces and rings this store sold since she had no use for a knife. Perhaps it was the mafia influence, being Italian or the crush he still sort of had on her, he offered to pay for everything. And in mafia fashion, he had a huge watt of bills in his wallet (with the bigger bills hidden in a hundred 1 dollar bills***).

The Belgian woman was rather sweet though. She wasn't trying to make him go bankrupt or try to get him to buy her as much stuff as their time together would allow. From her point of view they were just 2 adults of opposite genders that were going out together. Not necessarily a date, nor had they ever been romantic. He was just a nice guy despite being mean and quick to get angry. On top of that, since she was much older than him, she'd seen him and known him since he was a child, making things a tad awkward when it came to the idea of romance…

Similar to friendship, love was also a unique concept for their kind. How could you love someone who could be your ally in one war and your enemy in the next? When she thought of this, she also wondered how Hungary and Austria had lived together and been married for so long. They seemed to be history's OTP in a weird sense as they had one of the longest lasting alliances/marriages ever. On top of that, they were still very friendly with one another and one could hardly tell they had long been divorced.

As for her situation right now, she viewed it as simply being with a friend and taking a little detour from an errand… That was all…

"Signorina Belgio…" Romano caught her attention in Italian, catching her looking at a few pieces of jewelry in particular and very much like a classy mobster, wanted to take care of the nice lady he was out with. "Are you interested in anything in particular?"

"Just looking at a few of the unique pieces here. I forgot how fun being a tourist was! I don't get to travel much. I usually just spend time with my brothers and the other girls." She pointed at a few of the pieces: pentagrams, intricate rose patterns, crosses, military insignias carefully carved into necklace and bracelet charms. They were all of silver, attached to sturdy looking chains.

"It's fine, if you want something you can say so." If this were a mob movie, this is the part where the smooth mobster taking the girl out would light a cigarette. Unfortunately this wasn't a movie and Romano wasn't the smoothest or most charismatic southern Italian out there. He tried to think of something at least somewhat smooth and charming to say but as soon as he opened his mouth his phone rang, tarantella music playing until he picked up.

"Pronto!"

"Moshi moshi?" Japan said. "Romano-san, daijoubu-desuka?"

"Ah, you again… What's going on, did you find my useless brother?"

"Hai. We're at America-san's apartment at the moment. He's fine, though there was a small conflict during the exchange…"

"Exchange? Did he get kidnapped by the mafia after all? What the crapolla are you talking about?" Romano's accent seemed to get a bit thicker. His English was perfect, but the accent was a clear giveaway and it was becoming thicker the faster he spoke and the angrier he got. "Per favore Giappone, you didn't start a war over Nintendo did you?"

"Iye-desu! I'm a professional!"

"Ma se bevi Whisky and Soda po te siente e disturba! Tell me the truth." Putting his hand over the phone for a moment, he excused himself, telling Belgium he'd be back. Once outside he went to the corner, outside of a bank. "I'm alone now, tell me what the fuck happened."

"Gomenasai… I'm not sure how I would describe it except for saying it was a hostage exchange of sorts. But no one has been harmed. Do you know the way to America-san's apartment? I'm sure Italia-kun is worried about you. I can put him on the phone if you-."

Italy snatched the phone out of his friend's hand. "Fratello, mi dispiace tanto!" He shouted into the phone, making Romano angry immediately upon hearing his voice.

"TE NE PENTIRAI! Stupid little brother, do you know how much trouble you cause for everyone?!"

"Mi dispiace! But I'm fine, I didn't mean to cause so much trouble!"

The Japanese man sighed, knowing that he wouldn't get his phone back… However at least a major war was avoided…

Meanwhile, in another location at the same time…

Back in the hotel room, Netherlands was slowly waking up from a coma-like sleep. He looked around and didn't hear or see his sister and her Italian friend in the room. He only saw Estonia and Latvia huddling around a smart phone, hearing words spoken in Estonian and Latvian as well as some accented English.

"Ja, Es esmu vessels. Ka teu iet?" He heard the Latvian boy speak into the phone.

The voice from the phone however came out very fuzzy, likely because of the phones themselves, not the people talking over them.

"Ja, I'm very well. I'm feeling a lot better before." Finland's voice… He sounded happy as usual but slightly different as well…

"How was the concert? I know you said you couldn't stay for the whole thing, but was it any good?" Estonia asked, holding his smartphone up so everyone could hear it and speak clearly into it.

"It was good. I felt sick in the middle of it, but that's fine. My wonderful husband picked me up before anything bad could happen~."

"So Sweden took care of you. I can hear it in your voice." Estonia rejoiced. "If it weren't for this meeting I would've helped you myself. But currently we're all stuck in New York."

"It was definitely weird not seeing Estonia try to blend in with you and the other Nordics…" Latvia mumbled, his usual 'diarrhea of the mouth' giving him absolutely no filter. "Not having Sealand there was also very different. Is he doing well?"

"He's watching TV as usual." Sweden chimed in. "He's doing well, you know how he is…"

But Sweden sounded more monotone than usual, like a toy robot whose batteries were running low.

"Would it be possible for me to talk to him?" The Latvian asked, just wanting to make sure the younger nation was alright.

There wasn't an answer for a while, only giggling and mumbling until Finland chimed in. "It seems like he's playing hide and seek with the dog. You should try calling his cellphone if you want to speak with him."

Odd choice of answer… The Estonian took his phone back, talking to Finland after shutting the speaker function off. Latvia himself decided to go outside and decided to call the tiny micro-nation himself…

**Ok this chapter is getting super-duper long so I might have to split this in two parts…**

**Chapter end for now?**

**Translation notes! Come on grab your friends!**

****American education regarding World War 2 always seems to focus on Germany the most. They always focus and talk about Germany, Hitler, the Holocaust and the treatment of the Jews in the death camps the most. They mention Pearl Harbor and a few of the other Japanese battles, but always put a lot more emphasis on Germany's actions and Italy is left out almost entirely. When I was still in public school (high school) I pretty much memorized the World War 2 unit by watching Hetalia with or without a history book in my hand as I watched and I ended up knowing a lot of stuff my peers didn't. But Hetalia is by a Japanese author. It's quite refreshing to see history from another nation's perspective though, especially since the way history was taught in my schools over the years always drilled the 'Germany was evil back then' message into our skulls and never mentioned much else.**

***** Back in the first fanfic I ever wrote called World at the Bar, I mentioned a comedian named Bret Ernst, who came up with the bit that inspired that particular fanfic. In the same stand up special he makes that joke in, he also makes a joke about Italian guys who wanna get girls by acting like they're in the mafia by carrying huge watts of money in their wallets (or something like that). Naturally if you see someone with a lot of bills you think they'd have money, but he goes on to say that all of the big bills are wrapped in ones. You really gotta see his Comedy Central special to get a laugh, if I explain it, I'll just bore you. However that joke and the one that inspired 'World at the Bar' are perfect examples of jokes that get funnier if you watch/read Hetalia.**


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